1s 

y 


r 


Then  a,,d  Now. 


ORATION 


B  Y 


C  II  A.ELES     A.     STM  X  1-:  i>. 


SAX    FRANCISCO. 


i  DELIVERED  AT  QU//VCY.  CALIFORNIA,  JULY  4th,  1876. 


Published    by    Request  of  the   Hearers. 


I 


(  185"  3 


THEN  AND  NOW. 


Oral  ion  Delivered  at  Quincy,  July  4th,  1870,  l»y 
Hon.  Olias  A.  Simmer. 


The  President  of  the  Day  introduced  the  Orator  of  the  Day,  CIIAHMSS  A. 
SrMNKK,  of  San  Francisco.  Mr.  Sumner  said  : 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GEN-  Turkish  tyranny  that  has  crushed  their  coun- 
TLEMEN — FELLOW  CITIZENS  : — The  one  him-  try  for  a  thousand  years,  have  instructed  their 
dreth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  clans  to  gather  before  their  tents  this  day, 
Declaration  of  Independence  by  the  Congress  and  listen,  and  applaud,  and  adore  the  God  of 
of  the  United  Colonies,  or  States,  of  North  battles,  after  the  manner  of  their  fathers, 
America  :  All  Hail  !  while  the  bands  of  their  battalions  commend 

Forty  millions  of  people  on  this  continent  their  supplications  for  victory  by  an  an-,  mi- 
greet  the  morning  sun  of  this  day  with  the  paniment  on  the  shrill  clarions  of  the  Orient 

grandest  emphasis  of  patriotic  exultation,  striking  the  newly  learned  notes  of  Hail  Co 


In  a  thousand  cities  of  the  land,  the  opening 
moment  for  rejoicings  has  been  announced 
by  the  loudest  concert  of  artillery  and  the 
peal  of.  ponderous  bells.  In  ten  thousand 
towns  and  vilages  and  hamlets,  the  proper 


lumbia,  Yankee  "Doodle,  and  the  National 
Anthem  of  the  American  Union. 

"  Proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  the  land 
unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof.  " 

They  who  see  from  the  design  the  inevitable 


tion  of  possible  welcome  has  been  uttered  ;    existence  of  a  Creator,  will  confess  without 
and  over  all  the  land  the  stirring  roll  of  the    superstition  the  Providential  direction  that 
drum,  and  the  jubilant  blare  of  the  bugle,    long  before  the  date  of  its  authentic  utterance 
long   processions  of    bayonet-bear-    placed  these  words  upon  the  iron  shoulders  of 

the  bell  that  announced  from  the  steeple  of 
Independence  Hall  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  6th 


and  the 

ing    and  regalia-clad    men  and    flower-gar 

landed  children,  and  the  raising  and  decorat 


ing  of  memorial  and  triumphal  arches,  and  of  July,  one  hundred  years  ago,  that  the  Dec- 

the  uncovering  of  marble  statues  of  revoln-  laration  of  Independence  had  been  adopted 

tionary   heroes,  and   the   earnest  speech  of  by  the  authorized  representatives  of  the  thir- 

proud  reminiscence  and   hopeful  prophecy,  teen  colonies.     The  tones  that  were  heard 

are  among  the  high  testimonials  that  are  be-  ' 
ing  heard  and  witnessed  this  day. 
Nor  is  this  even  a  hint  of  all  of  recorded  de- 


that  day  by  those  who  were  within  the  literal 
circuit  of  its  vibrations  have  been  renewed 


in  every  decade,  as  a  stimulant  and  a  sonorous 

monstration   and   contemporaneous  magnetic  telling  of  brave  and  noble  advances  by  other 

incident  which  deserves  our  recognition  at  peoples  towards  the  securing  or  maintaining 

this  moment  of  time.     In  a  thousand  foreign  of  tne  principles  of  constitutional  freedom, 
sea-ports   that  flag  is  flung  from  the  mast-        It  is  a  day  for  rejoicing  in  the  calendar  of 

head  of  every  ship  in  the  harbor  ;  nor  does  the  civilized  world!     Let  it  be  so.    Let  the 

there    gaze    upon    it   one    intelligent    man,  pulsations  of  intensest  joy  find  perfect  health 

woman,  or  child,  without  some  conception  of  in  unrestrained  exuberance.      Let  the  full 

its  significance,  without  some  comprehension  license  be  given  and  availed  for  the  heartiest 

of  its  history,  without  some  audible  prayer  expressions  of  congratulations,  and  love,  and 

for  the  perpetuity  of  those  institutions  whose  happiness,  and  pride.    And  let  no  man  witli 

one  hundred  years  of  life  it  betokens,  and  mean  and  cynical  devotion  to  the  ordinary 

whose  flourishing  vigor  at  this  day  it  defiantly  quiet  of  human  existence  and  the  gentleness 

proclaims.  of  parlor  propriety  seek  to  check  or  abate  the 

And  as  we  gather  here,  a  constituent  assem-  noise  of  the  loud  timbrel,  or  the  great  shout- 

bly,  in  this  beautiful  valley  of  the  Sierras,  to  ings  of  a  free-born  and  liberty-loving  people 

render  odr  humble   tribute  of  commemora-  on  the  earth. 

tion,  we  seem  to  feel  as  a  necessary,  inevi-  Despite  all  the  depressions  which  may  be 
table,  and  excellent  advantage  of  our  geo-  complainingly  said  to  belong  to  the  temporary 
graphical  position,  that  the  atmosphere  comes  conditions  of  trade,  we  are  sure  that  no 
to  us  at  this  noonday  sure-barged  with  the  stint  in  willing  preparations,  anywhere  in 
echoes  of  celebrating  voices,  awakened  in  un-  the  land,  will  hinder  or  lessen  the  demonstra- 
numbered  homes,  rolling  in  one  grand  tide  tions  for  this  day.  Despite  all  the  profound 
from  the  Atlantic  shores.  An  electric  impulse  misgivings  that  many  may  conscientiously  en- 
ana  inspiration  that  comes  from  the  salutations  tertain,  despite  all  the  humiliation  and  shame 
and  cheering  of  the  vast  multitude  of  our  which  all  must  confess  on  account  of  recent 
fellow-citizens  who  dwell  bevond  and  below  revelations  of  official  malfeasance  and  protii- 
iis  being  borne  in,  as  it  were,  by  the  winds  of  gacy  in  high  places  in  the  Government,  the 
heaven  upon  our  swelling  hearts.  introductory  time  of  these  hours  is  fitly  dedi- 

Xay  more  :  We  seem  to  catch  the  strains  of  cated  and  devoted  to  the  unqualified    and 

martial  music,  familiar  and  yet  wonderfully  grateful  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  Al- 

weird  and  wild  in  its  far,  taint  accent*.     And  mighty  has  cast  our  lines  in  pleasant  places — 

as  we  listen  for  the  haunting  whisperings  of  in  a  Republic  which,  under  the  benign  influ- 

that  music,  we  remember  that  the  chieftains  ence  of  heaven,  our  fathers,  with  wise  pur 

of  the  half-barbaric   tribes  of  Herzegovina,  poses  and  robust  faith,  planted  and  vindicated 

who  have  recently  risen  in  arms  against  the  through  a  long  and  bloody  war  ;  sealing  their 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


compact  of  freedom  with  the  signature  of 
enduring  success,  for  us  and  for  our  children 
and  our  children's  children,  and  before  the 
kingdoms  of  the  globe. 

We  are  very  glad,  O,  men  and  women  and 
little  children',  we  are  very  glad  that  we  have 
lived  to  see  this  day.  Our  earliest  ancestors, 
in  the  revolutionary  years,  dreamed  of  this 
day  with  full  and  longing  hearts.  Our  latest 
fathers  wished  to  be  spared  to  behold  this 
day,  and  died  in  hope  for  us. 

And  ye  eons  of  other  nations  and  distant 
climes,  who  have  come  to  dwell  among  us, 
and  to  partake  in  full  measure  and  harmony 
of  our  priceless  heritage  of  republican  govern- 
ment !  Were  it  possible,  your  emotion  of 
thankfulness  should  be  greater  than  ours,  as 
you  mingle  in  the  active  commemoration  of 
the  events  suggested  for  this  day.  Far,  far 
across  the  waters,  for  many  a  weary  year, 
your  ancestors  replied,  by  an  abiding  trust  in 
their  souls,  to  the  sneers  of  kings  and  court- 
iers, as  these  declared  that  our  system  was 
impracticable  and  our  national  life  near  to  its 
tit  and  ignominious  doom.  And  so  have  their 
steadfast  confidence  and  patient  expectations 
been  blessed  unto  their  children,  who  are 
privileged  to  commune  with  us  and  of  us  to- 
day. 

And  what  a  tremendous  debt  of  obligation 
is  ours  to  those  who  wrought  out  for  us  all 
this  glorious  framework  of  Government. 
Blessed  fathers !  Your  memories  are  very 
green  in  our  hearts  this  day  !  The  long  roll 
cannot  be  called  within  our  brief  limits  of 
speech  ;  but  for  some  of  them — not  as  forget- 
ting or  disparaging  many  others,  equally  as 
worthy  of  our  oral  register  on  this  occasion — 
for  some  of  them  we  must  pronounce  the 
names  with  reverent  recollection. 

General  George  Washington  !  Command- 
er-in-Chief  of  the  American  forces !  That 
name !  There  is  a  fullness,  a  calmness,  a 
syllabic  grandeur  in  that  name  that  befits  the 
man. 

One  hundred  and  one  years  ago  yesterday 
morning,  when  forty-three  years  of  age,  he 
took  command  of  the  united  forces  of  the 
Colonies,  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  under 
an  elm  tree,  which  stands  to  this  day  and  is 
known  by  his  name. 

"  Washington  !  "  Into  whose  presence,  it 
has  been  testified,  no  man  could  come  without 
a  sense  of  profound  respect,  almost  amounting 
to  emotions  of  awe.  In  all  history — look  it 
over  and  over  and  over,  ye  young  men  of 
America — and  we  shall  strive  hereafter  to  en- 
force the  worthiness  of  such  an  examination 
— in  all  history,  the  grandest  military  hero  of 
any  age  !  No  tire  of  fanaticism,  no  zeal  born 
of  prejudice  and  not  according  to  sound 
knowledge  of  his  cause,  burned  in  his  bosom. 
Assuming  command  of  our  armies  when  the 
idea  of  independence  was  abhorrent  to  him, 
he  was  taught  by  his  observation  and  experi- 
ence concerning  the  home  government,  that 
nothing  but  independence  would  secure  free- 
dom to  the  people  of  this  land.  Convinced  of 
the  truth  of  the  situation,  his  duty  was  plain  ; 
apprised  of  his  duty,  his  purposes  were  heroic 
and  inflexible. 

Well  and  prophetically  wrote  Representa- 
tive William  Hooper,  in  1778,  addressing 
Robert  Morris  :  "  Will  posterity  believe  the 
tale  ?  When  it  shall  be  consistent  with 
policy  to  give  the  history  of  that  man  from 
his  first  introduction  into  onr  service,  how 
often  America  has  beem  rescued  from  ruin 
by  the  mere  strength  of  his  genius  and  eon- 
duct  and  courage,  encountering  every  obstacle 


that  want  of  money,  men,  arms,  and  ammu- 
nition could  throw  in  his  way— an  impartial 
world  will  say  to  you  that  he  is  the  greatest 
man  on  earth.  Misfortunes  are  the  elements 
in  which  he  shines,  they  are  the  groundwork 
on  which  his  picture  appears  to  the  greatest 
advantage.  He  rises  superior  to  them  all  ; 
they  serve  as  foils  to  his  fortitude  and  a 
stimulus  to  bring  into  view  those  great  qual- 
ities which  his  modesty  keeps  concealed." 

O  !  patriot  of  patriots !  We  bend  over 
thy  lowly  tomb  this  day  with  tears  of  thanks- 
giving, and  our  choicest  words  of  honor.  O, 

"Patient  of  toil, 
Serene  amid  alarms  !  " 

We  lift  our  eyes  whence  cotneth  that  help 
he  sought  and  found,  when  he  passed  beyond 
the  camp  and  besought  the  God  of  battles. 
And  we  praise  Him  who  bestowed  this  won- 
derful captain  for  us  and  for  our  political  re- 
demption. 

So  gentle  as  to  draw  from  one  of  his 
severest— though  a  friendly — critic,  the  title 
of  "  The  amiable  Washington  "  ;  and  yet 
firm  and  resolute  when  the  exigencies  de- 
manded these  qualities  of  a  commander. 
And  not  without  that  quality  for  which  he 
has  little  if  any  credit — the  quality  or  sense 
of  humor.  This  element  in  his  composition 
was  certainly  illustrated,  in  conjunction  with 
the  positiveness  of  his  will,  when  an  appeal 
was  made  to  him  on  behalf  of  several  thous- 
and royalists,  who  desired  to  remain  in  the 
city  of  Boston  after  the  evacuation  by  the 
British  troops.  Patriotic  neighbors  and 
petitioners  joined  with  the  parties  most  inter- 
ested in  representing  to  Washington  that 
these  people  "  are  very  good  people,  and  like 
yourself  are  firmly  attached  to  the  English 
Church.  They  promise  that  hereafter  they 
will  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  giving  aid  or 
comfort  to  the  enemy."  To  this  the  reply 
was  made  by  Washington  :  "  I  have  no  doubt 
they  are  very  good  people,  and  I  hope  that 
when  they  die  they  will  all  go  to  heaven  ; 
but  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  they  must  go 
to  Nova  Scotia." 

Samuel  Adams  !  Who  was  for  ' '  indepen- 
dence "  from  the  beginning  of  operations  ; 
and  whose  pen  and  voice,  and  unceasing 
activity  in  organizing  forces  against  the 
Crown,  were"  immense  levers  of  influence 
towards  the  great  consummation.  His  were 
the  words  of  radical  necessity,  and  duty, — 
"We  must  fight;  we  must  have  indepen- 
dence,"— which  met  the  swift  echo  and 
electric  cheer  of  that  peerless  orator  of  the 
revolution, — 

Patrick  Henry,  of  Virginia. 
Joseph  Warren,  who  fell  on  Bunker  Hill 
with  the  triumphant  exclamation  on  his  lips  : 
"  It  is  sweet  to  die  for  one's  country."  O, 
blessed  fathers  !  Joseph  Warren  :  Who  on 
that  day  volunteered  for  service  in  company 
with  a  friend  and  comrade  of  different  mould, 
but  equal  devotion  : — 

Israel  Putnam,  of  Connecticut.  "  Old 
Put,"  as  the  boys  loved  to  call  him ;  whose 
counsel  was  more  than  half  the  secret  of  that 
day's  virtual  victory:  "  Save  your  ammuni- 
tion, boys,  save  your  ammunition  ;  and  don't 
fire  at  the  grannies  until  you  can  see  the 
whites  of  their  eyes." 

John  Adams  !  The  youthful  cousin  of  Sam. 
Adams,  and  the  worthy  kinsman  of  so  inde- 
fatigable a  leader — a  scholar,  orator,  and  au- 
thor, whose  contributions  to  onr  arms  and  our 
diplomacy  have  not  been  more  than  half  ap- 
preciated" unto  this  day. 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


3 


Nathaniel  Green  !    Whose  campaigns  were    borough,  and  the  convoyed  fleet  of  merchant- 
siu-li    illustrations  of  military  genius  as  pro-    men,  after  a  three  hours'  contest  of  unnaral- 

II  -IT  ,       •  I          ^  i-  I'.-  <•  lit  I  •.  I  •      .  '-¥-1 

1  thought 


sum    nuisnrauons  pi  umiutry  genius  as  pro-    men.  aner  a  tnrce  nours   conte; 
voked  unwilling  tributes  of  admiration  from    lelea  audacity  mid  persistency. 


the*veterans  of  Continental  Europe. 


he  was  blown  to  pieces  a  dozen  times,"  said 


Tom  Paine.    Of  wboee  political  writings,    the  Commander  of  the  Serapis,  "and  each 


time  was  astounded  to  discover  his  wreck  still 
fastened  to  us.  And  when  I  did  actually 
scuttle  him,  I  found  him  on  my  own  deck  in 

The  first  naval  officer  who 
held  the  rank  of  Commodore  in  the  service  pf 
the  United  States.  Born  in  Ireland,  he  came 
to  this  country  when  fifteen  years  of  age,  and 
obtained  such  credit  as  a  seaman  that  he  was 
appointed  by  Congress,  in  1776,  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  brig  Lexington,  and  shortly 
afterwards  to  the  command  of  the  frigate 
Efflngkam.  On  this  latter  named  vessel  he 


Famous  as  a  skirmisher 
in  the  Carolinas,  and  distinguished  by  his 
action  at   Port  Houltrie  and  the  siege    at 
•"•-"       His  own  chivalrous  braverv, 


known  under  the  titles  of  "  Common  Sense, 
and  "  The  Crisis, "tens  of  thousands  of  copies 
were  scattered  throughout  the  land  at  a  most 
critical  period,  and  drew   from  Washington    full  command  ! 
immediate  and  thereafter  frequent  testimon-       John  Barry. 
lain  of  appreciation  and  gratitude  ;  and  from    ' 
whom    no    alleged    subsequent    misconduct 
should  take  a  large  meed  of  popular  acknowl- 
edgment at  this  centennial  celebration. 

General  Joseph  Reed.  Who  occupied  an 
important  position  of  trust  in  the  management 
of  affairs,  and  who,  when  approached  by  a 
British  emissary  with  the  proffer  of  gold 

and  rank  for  his  renunciation  of  the  cause  of  first  displayed  the  American  flag  as  at  present 
the  colonies,  declared  that  he  was  a  very  constructed— the  first  Commodore  to  give  that 
poor  man,  but  such  as  he  was,  the  King  of  banner  to  the  breeze  on  the  ocean,  and  in 
England  had  not  money  enough  to  buy  him.  successful  conflict  with  the  enemy.  General 
(),  that  he  had  been  endowed  with  centennial  Howe  offered  him  sixty  thousand  dollars  and 
vigor  ;  that  he  might  have  lived  unto  this  the  command  of  a  British  frigate  on  condition 
day,  and  occupied  one  corresponding  position  of  his  deserting  the  American  cause.  He  re- 
of  authority— that  he  might  have  held  the  ceived  and  dismissed  the  proposition  with  a 
office  of  Secretary  of  War  during  the  present  laugh  of  derision 
Administration.  Francis  Marion. 

General  Richard  Montgomery.    Foremost 
officer  in  the  attack  upon  Quebec,  on  the  13th 
of  December,   1775  ;  who  was   killed  in  the    Charleston, 
ver 
fire 

house  \yhere  his  body  was 

served  in  one  of  the  principal  streets  of  Que-  men 
bee.  And  though  more  modern  and  elegant 
buildings  surround  it,  the  homage  which  visit- 
ing Americans  pay  to  such  patriotic  valor  is 
illustrated  in  its  preservation,  and  in  the 
crowds  that  often  in  the  summer  season 
throng  that  little  cottage. 

John  Stark.  Who  raised  a  body  of  troops 
in  the  Green  Mountains  ;  and  while  despond- 
ency was  spread  over  the  land  on  account 
of  disasters  elsewhere,  he  went  out  and  stood 
upon  the  vaunted  pathway  of  a  large  body  of 
mercenary  Hessians  that  were  passing  to  Bur- 
goyne's  reinforcement,  with  this  appeal  and 
prophecy  to  his  men  :  "The  enemy  must  fall 
into  our  hands  before  night,  or  Molly  Stark's  a 

widow."  And  confronting  and  defeating  this  martyr  of  the  Revolution*,  whose  last  words", 
and  the  following  troops  who  were  hasten-  as  he  ascended  the  gallows  to  which  he  had' 
ing  to  Burgoyne's  assistance,  he  heard  the  been  condemned  by  the  British  commander 
welcome  of  his  spouse  and  the  plaudits  of  his  at  New  York,  should  be  forever  engraved  on 
country.  onr  grateful  memories :  "  I  only  regret  that  I 

Ethan  Allen.  Who  early  in  the  contest  have  but  one  life  to  lose  for  my  country." 
made  the  successful  demand  for  the  surren-  John  Hancock.  Who  said  he  would  en- 
der  of  Fort  Ticonderoga,  "  In  the  name  of  deavor  to  write  his  name  in  so  plain  and  large 
Almighty  God  and  the  Continental  Con-  a  text  that  even  so  ignorant  a  man  as  the 
gress."  And  who,  afterwards,  when  a  King  of  Great  Britain  could  spell  it  out. 
prisoner  in  England,  and  the  nominal  guest  Charles  Carroll.  Who,  when  it  was  sug- 
of  a  British  Lord,  was  asked  if  the  portrait  gested  that  his  name  on  the  list  of  signers  to 
of  Washington  was  not  fitly  placed  in  the  the  Declaration  of  Independence  might  be 
ante-room  leading  to  the  vault  of  a  large  taken  for  that  of  another  person  adjacent  to 
public  street  drain  in  the  city  of  London —  his  estate,  seized  the  pen  again  and  affixed 
(in  which  ante-room  large  numbers  of  the  the  words  "  of  Carrollton  ;  "  saying,  "If  the 
lowest  orders  gathered,  with  the  request  for  British  tyrant  wants  to  know  where  I  am,  or 
permission  to  search  for  lost  articles  of  value  where  my  property  is,  he  can  find  both  me 
in  the  filth  of  the  sewer) — replied  in  the  and  mine." 

affirmative,  with  this  additional  remark  :  Jacob  Duche.  Rector  of  Christ's  Church, 
"  If  that  portrait  does  not  make  the  Brit-  Philadelphia.  Who  issued  a  number  of  influ- 
ishers  get  down  on  their  knees  and  hunt  for  ential  tracts  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  the 
something  they  won't  find,  I  don't  know  Colonies  ;  but  who,  on  account  of  his  alliances 
where  you  can  get  a  picture  that  will  produce  in  the  Anglican  Church,  was  for  some  time 
that  result."  distrusted  by  the  dissenters  about  him.  After 

Paul  Jones.  Who  in  his  refitted  Indiaman,  some  wrangling  in  regard  to  the  choice  of  an 
the  Bon  Homme  Richard,  on  the  23d  of  Sep-  officiating  minister  for  the  occasion  ;  owing  to 
tember,  1779,  engaged  in  that  memorable  en-  the  persistency  of  John  Adams,  a  Congre- 
counter  with  the  Kern  pis,  capturing  both  it  gationalist,  Jacob  Duche  was  requested  to 
and  its  companion,  the  Countess  of  Scarr-  open  the  first  Centennial  Congress  with 


1  by  the  only  volley  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  inspired 
itish  soldiery.  The  his  troops  has  been  well  depicted  in  the  song 
i  laid  out  is  still  pre-  of  our  ancient  bard— attributed  to  Marion's 


'  Our  band  is  few,  but  true  and  tried  ; 

Our  leader  swift  and  bold  ; 
The  British  soldier  trembles 
When  Marion's  name  is  told. 

Our  fortress  is  the  good  green  wood, 

Our  tent  the  cypress  tree  ; 
We  know  the  forest  round  us, 

As  the  seamen  know  the  sea. 

We  know  its  walls  of  thorny  vines, 

Its  glades  of  reedy  grass, 
Its  soft  and  silent  islands, 

Within  the  dark  morass." 

Nathan  Hale.    That  youthful    hero  and 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


prayer.  After  a  silent  supplication—  (as  he  tells  tongues  so  often  this  day;  which  may  be 
us  in  his  diary) — that  God  would  forgive  him  properly  reserved  to  close  the  list  that  I  "have 
for  all  his  prayers  unwittingly  offered  in  he-  space  to  select :  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
half  of  a  tyrant — he  broke  forth  into  such  an  which  has  been  read  to  you  on  its  one 
eloquent  extemporaneous  appeal  for  the  cause  hundredth  anniversary — Thomas  Jefferson  of 
of  liberty,  and  for  the  union  of  the  Colonists  Mouticello.  And  yet  what  superfluous  men- 
in  resolution  for  independence — if  honorable  tion,  when  his  words— our  words,  which  he 
peace  could  not  otherwise  be  had — that  many  put  into  our  mouths  and  hearts,  and  into  the 
of  the  delegates  fell  from  their  knees  to  the  immortal  literature  of  freedom — are  ringing 
floor,  prostrate,  and  arose  at  the  conclusion  of  in  our  ears. 

the  prayer  with  strong  cries  of  "  amen,"  and  Only  this  should  now  be  said  : — There  has 
with  tears  coursing  down  their  cheeks.  been  much  labored  effort  to  show  the  begin- 

Old  Ben  Franklin  !  Bless  his  memory  for-  ning  of  our  Revolution  in  the  dim  if  not  dis- 
ever  and  forever !  Old  Ben  ;  who  desired  tant  past.  Real  scholars  by  the  score  and 
that  Canada  and  Ireland  should  join  in  the  shallow  pretenders  to  research  and  historical 
original  protest  against  Great  Britain.  Old  acumen  by  the  hundreds,  have  professed  to 
Ben,  who  would  not  wear  livery  in  any  discover  perfect  parallels  for  our  Republic  in 
coutt  in  Christendom.  Old  Ben  "Franklin,  classic  times  or  in  ancient  civilization — now 
whose  figure  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  and  in  the  Islands  of  the  sea,  and  now  in  the 
beloved  objects  of  portraiture  in  every  mountain  fastnesses  of  the  continent.  Or 
household  in  the  land.  In  combination :  they  have  affected  to  trace,  step  by  step,  a 
philosopher,  statesman,  and  diplomatist  of  un-  rising  and  concentrating  sentiment  and  cul- 
rivaled,  undying,  and  increasing  fame — that  tivated  judgment  touching  the  things  that 
human  treasure-house  of  practical  wisdom,  belong  to  perfect  liberty.  Or  they  have 
political  thought,  and  ever-ready,  suggest-  given  credit  for  the  "  Idea  "  to  men  of  malig- 
ive  wit.  He  stirred  up  anew,  and  to  ajubi-  nant  and  tyrannical  .dispositions, — a  portion 
lant  pitch,  the  hope  of  souls  most  sorely  of  whose  writings  condemned  their  deeds.  In 
tried  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution,  by  the  light  of  true  investigation  and  clear  re - 
the  shrewd  publication  of  a  challenging  re-  view  this  must  be  set  aside.  Most  certainly 


hundred  and  fifty  Yankees  in  the  campaign ;  called,  delight~to  point.  No  less  a  writer 
which  is  twenty  thousand  pounds  a  head  ;  than  DeQuincy  has  said  :  •'  The  Greeks  and 
and  at  Bunker  Hill  she  gained  a  mile  of  Romans,although  so  frantically  republican  and 
ground,  half  of  which  she  lost  by  our  taking  in  some  of  their  institutions  so  democratic,  yet, 
position  on  Plowed  Hill.  During  this  time  on  the  other  hand,  never  developed  the  idea  of 
sixty  thousand  children  have  been  born  in  representative  government.  The  elective 
America  ;  and  the  boys  and  girls  are  marry-  principle  was  widely  known  amongst  them, 
ing  as  fast  as  possible,  and  raising  large  fam-  Public  authority  and" jurisdiction  were  created 
ilies  for  future  reinforcements."  and  modified  by  the  elective  principle  ;  but 
LaFayette  !  Brilliant  representative  of  the  never  was  this  principle  applied  to  the  crea- 
chivalry  of  the  sunny  land  of  France  !  Whose  tion  or  direction  of  public  opinion.  Strange 
biography  is  more  enchanting  than  a  romance,  indeed  that  so  mighty  a  secret  as  that  of  del- 
and  deserves  to  be  among  the  illustrated  patri-  egating  public  opinion  to  the  custody  of 
otic  memories  of  every  American  youth.  La-  elected  representatives,  a  secret  which  has 
Fayette  :  who  left  the'comforts  and  luxuries  of  changed  the  face  of  the  world,  should  have 
a  palace  when  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  to  been  missed  by  the  nations  applying  so  vast 
serve  with  and  become  the  bosom  friend  and  an  energy  to  the  whole  theory  of  public  ad- 
companion  of  General  Washington.  What  a  ministration.  But  the  truth,  however  para- 
picture  of  pure  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Lib-  doxical,  is  that,  in  Greece  and  Rome,  no  body 

erty LaFayette  and  Steuben  and  De  Kalb  of  public  opinion  existed   that   could    have 

and  Du  Portrail    abiding    in  the  cheerless  furnished    a   standing    ground  for    adverse 

dugouts   of  Valley  Forge  through  the  long  paities.    In  all  the  discussions  of  Rome  and 

winter  of  1777-'8;  enduring  all  manner  of  Greece,  the  contest  could  no  more   be    de- 

Ehysical   privations  without   a  murmur,  and  scribed  as  a  contest  of  opinion,  than  could 
Hiding  all  the  support  of  their  counsel,  skill,  the  feuds  of  our  buccaneers  in  the  seventeenth 
and  courage  to  the  great  commander  of  our  century,  when  parting  company,  or  fighting 
armies.  for  opposite  principles  of  dividing  the  general 
Jonathan  Trumbull — The  war  governor  of  booty."    And  Bancroft  sums  up  the  just  con- 
Connecticut ;  whom  Washington  denominated  elusion,  which  reaches  unto  the  day  of  the 
"a  main  pillar  of  support."    From  whom  preparation  :  "From  the  fullness  of  his  own 
our  favorite  nick-name  has  been  derived— as  mind,  without  consulting  one   single  book, 
Washington  was  wont  to  turn  to  him,  in  the  Thomas  Jefferson  drafted  the  Declaration  of 
midst  of  his  counsel  on  important  occasions,  Independence." 

with    the    remark:    "Let   us    hear    what  Nor  should  we  forget  here  to  utter  a  word 

Brother  Jonathan  has  to  say."  of  memorial  salutation  connected  with  other 

Alexander  Hamilton.  Scarcely  twenty  years  names  upon  the  roll  of  history,  as  they  are 

of  age  when  he  distinguished'  himself  as  an  titled  unto  us.    Edmund  Burke,  John  Fox, 

essayist  in  behalf  of  the  principles  for  which  "  Lord  Chatham,"  and  the  Duke  of  Rich- 


principles  for 

tne  oatties  01  me  Jtievoiution  were  fougui ;  muim.    ^.uu  v^uiuuci  uau.^  ,  w«vr  ti«m^  ««» 

whose  writings  were  all-powerful  in  his  day  troops  that  gathered  about  the  city  of  Boston, 

in  promoting  the  cause  of  independence  and  "  Sons  of  Liberty  ;"  a  name  which  they  were 

constitutional  government,  and  are  no  less  proud  to  receive,  adopt,  and  perpetuate, 

worthy  of  reading  and  study  now  than  when  What  a  picture  that  must  have  been  in 

they  first  appeared  in  the  ephemeral  publica-  British  Parliament  of  '77,  when  Chatham  was 

tions  of  the  last   quarter  of  the  eighteenth  borne  in  on  a  litter,  and  supported  by  his  at- 

centurv.  tendants,  was  able  in  a  voice  that  commanded 

And* that  other  name,  which  we  must  not  the  hearing  of  all  present,  to  deliver  this  grand 

omit  to  utter,  though  it  has  been  on  your  protest:    "You  may  swell  every  expense, 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


accumulate  every  assistance  you  can  buy  or 
borrow  ;  traffic  and  baiter  with  every  pitiful 
little  Gerrnau  prince  that  sells  and  sends  his 
subjerts  to  the  shambles  of  a  foreign  prince  ; 
your  efforts  we  forever  vain  aud  impotent; 
doubly  so  from  this  mercenary  aid  on  which 
von  rely,  for  it  irritates  to  an  incredible  re- 
sentment. If  I  were  an  American  as  I  am 
an  Englishman,  while  a  foreign  troop  was 
landed  in  my  country,  I  never  would  lay 
down  my  arms;  so  help  me  God,  never, 
never,  never." 

We  celebrate,  this  day,  the  grandest  political 
revolution  that  the  history  of  this  globe  re- 
cords. We  turn  our  eyes  to  the  past  and  see 
thirteen  Colonies  or  States,  embracing  not 
over  830,000  square  miles,  with  a  population 
not  exceeding  5,200,000  people.  We  lift  our 
eyes  to-day  to  behold  a  Republic  extending 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  with  a  measuring  belt 
of  3,000  miles,  with  an  area  of  3,559,000 
square  miles,  and  with  thirty-eight  States 
represented  upon  our  flag,  and  a  total  popu- 
lation of  more  than  43,000,000  of  people. 

Consider  the  relative  strength  of  the  con- 
testing parties,  and  there  is  food  for  inexpres- 
sible and  overwhelming  astonishment  at  the 
courage  and  persistence  of  the  struggle.  I 
believe  that  very  few  of  our  people  keep  in 
memory  the  tremendous  efforts  made  to  sub- 
due the  Colonists.  Great  Britain  sent  to 
America  over  140,000  men,  equipped  in  the 
I't-st  manner  then  known  to  civilized  warfare. 
And  during  the  struggle  there  was  no  artifice 
left  nntried  for  the  purpose  of  subjugation. 
There  was  no  stimulant  to  Indian  cruelty  or 
avarice,  no  bribe  of  title  or  gold  for  venal 
officers  or  men  of  influence— money  offered  in 
places  "  where  it  would  do  the  most  good  "  — 
that  was  omitted  from  the  working  and 
thoroughly  executed  plan  of  the  British 
Government.  Of  the  iJOO.OOO  men  that  are 
credited  with  having  been  raised  in  this 
country  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  the  Colonies, 
not  more  than  55,000  were  ever  on  the  field 
at  any  one  time,  and  not  more  than  30,000 
were  at  any  one  time  reported  in  good  fight- 
ing condition.  "  Hard,  hard  indeed  was  the 
contest  for  freedom,  and  the  struggle  for  in- 
dependence.' [  Every  man  and  every  woman 
and  every  child  of  the  age  of  puberty,  whose 
sympathies  were  enlisted  in  the  struggle,  felt 
the  personal  strain  of  interest  and  of  peril 
•luring  the  last  years  of  the  contest. 

What  a  vista  of  warfare  ;  conducted  on 
the  one  side  with  so  much  lordly  ease  and 
pomp,  maintained  on  the  other  with  so  much 
sacrifice  and  devotion.  "  The  past  at  least  is 
secure."  What  a  vista  of  warfare  !  Lexing- 
ton and  Concord,  Ticonderoga,  Bunker  Hill, 
Quebec,  Sullivan's  Island,  Long  Island, 
Lake  Champlain,  White  Plains,  Fort  Wash- 
ington, Trenton,  Princetown,  Bennington, 
Brandy  wine,  Germantown,  Saratoga,  Forts 
Mercer  and  Mifflin,  Monmouth,  Quaker  Hill, 
Stony  Point,  Savannah,  Charlestowu  Siege, 
Camdeu,  King's  Mountain,  Cowpens,  Gilford 
Courthouse,  Hopkins'  Hill,  Utaw  Springs; 
what  a  catalogue,  what  a  panorama  of  deadly 
vitli  alternate  victories  and  defeat, 
until  Washington  united  with  the  French 
forces  before  Lord  Cornwallis  ;  until  the  green 
cockade  of  Hamilton  and  the  white  plume  of 
Chevalier  de  Lameth  were  toe?ed  in  triumph 
over  the  fortifications  of  Yorktown. 

.Measure  the  cost  and  the  resolution ;  meas- 
ure the  foemen  and  the  circumstances  ;  meas- 
ure the  suffering  and  the  hope  :  what  an  epoch 
in  history.  O  blessed  fathers !  Theories  of 
republicanism  written  in  their  blood,  and 


institutions  of  freedom  built  up  with  their 
bones !  Not  for  their  own  aggrandizement, 
not  in  the  mere  spirit  of  revenge  for  trifling 
or  grievous  wrongs  ;  not  for  anything  else  or 
less  than  a  holy  desire  for  liberty,  founded  on 
a  wonderful  faith  in  the  capacity  of  man- 
kind for  self-government. 

My  friends :  we  boast  of  a  widespread 
education  in  oar  laud,  by  our  schools  of 
popular  resort.  We  point  with  pardonable 
pride  to  the  houses  erected  and  devoted  to 
the  instruction  of  the  people  in  all  the  funda- 
mental aud  many  of  tne  higher  branches  of 
learning.  And  how  many  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  this  generation  have  been  taught  or 
prompted  by  this  boasting — if  not  by  direct 
suggestions  from  the  conversation  of  parents 
and  teachers — to  look  with  pitying  consider- 
ation upon  the  alleged  or  presumed  compara- 
tively illiterate  condition  of  the  men  of  this 
country  in  the  Revolutionary  times.  Not 
only  the  dandy  descendants  of  Revolutionary 
sires,  who  lounge  in  cities  which  have  been 
built  where  our  fathers  found  a  wilderness, 
sprinkling  rose-water  in  the  streets,  and  in 
the  theaters  and  concert  halls  ; — not  only  do 
these  indulge  in  this  kind  of  depreciation, 
but  men  and  women  in  communities  and  in 
walks  of  life  where  we  should  naturally 
expect  a  more  intelligent  recognition  of 
historical  fact,  and  some  readiness  in  just 
vindication,  are  also  guilty  of  the  same  mis- 
apprehension and  slanderous  speech. 

Stop  to  think  of  it  for  a  moment!  What 
a  profound  sense  of  right,  combined  with  the 
enthusiastic  love  of  liberty  ;  what  ability  for 
original  reasoning  concerning  systems  of  na- 
tional rule,  as  well  as  physical  and  moral 
courage  to  carry  out  their  designs,  there  must 
have  been  among  nearly  all  the  people  of  the 
land, — characteristic  of  the  inhabitants  there- 
of !  What  was  the  fact  1  Proportionate  to  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  there  was  in  those  days 
a  far  greater  average  of  thoroughly  educated 
men  in  the  sea-coast  towns  and  border  villages 
of  the  Atlantic  Coast,  than  will  be  found  in 
places  so  situated  to-day.  In  some  degree  il- 
lustrative of  this  fact,  is  the  standard  for  sen- 
ior scholarship  which  is  on  record  in  the  prin- 
cipal institutions  of  learning.  In  the  culture 
of  the  classics,  two  or  three  years'  added 
study  would  hardly  bring  a  university  gradu- 
ate of  to-day  up  to  the  examination  for  ac- 
complishments which  the  Boston  and  New 
Haven  Colleges  then  bestowed. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  from 
the  city  of  Boston,  in  the  little  village  of 
Sheffield,  in  the  county  of  Berkshire,  resolu- 
tions and  an  address,  suggestive  of  the  Declar- 
ation, were  prepared  one  hundred  years  ago  ; 
which,  for  elegance  of  diction,  as  well  as  fer- 
vor of  patriotism,  will  compete  with  the  pe- 
riods of  those  documents  and  speeches,  be- 
longing to  those  times,  with  which  we  are 
most  familiar,  and  which,  as  specimens  of 
rhetoric,  we  most  delight  to  study  and  de- 
claim. A  majority  of  the  revolutionary  fa- 
thers were  accustomed  to  listen  every  Sun- 
day to  preachers  whose  depth  of  thought  and 
grace  of  culture  are  not  exceeded  in  their  place 
at  this  day  ;  and  the  congregations  loved  the 
meaty  discourses  that  ran  up  to  the  16th  sub- 
division and  closed  with  a  full  haif  hour  of 
personal  application.  O,  never  was  a  greater 
mistake  in  the  general  belief  or  repute  touch- 
ing the  disciplined  judgment  and  the  actual 
literary  accomplishments  of  the  people. 
Though  our  Revolutionary  fathers,  by  Prov- 
idential guidance,  builded  wiser  than  they 
knew ;  yet  did  they  understand  what  they 


THEN    AND   NOW. 


were  proposing  and  what  they  were  doing 
fully  up  to  that  plane  of  secular  wisdom 
which  we  claim  for  the  hest  classes  of  our 
own  time. 

But  above  all  and  through  all  was  the 
splendid  spirit  of  pure  patriotism,  exemplified 
in  unnumbered  instances  throughout  the  laud. 
Look  upon  the  picture  in  one  of  the  thousand 
households  from  which  the  soldiery  of  the 
Colonies  went  forth  !  Into  the  backwoods — 
the  far  west  it  was  then  called — the  youthful 
pair  had  gone  from  Boston,  Salem,  or 
New  Bedford,  Newburyport,  or  New  York, 
or  Baltimore,  or  Charleston  or  Savannah. 
Long  before  the  Revolution,  the  towns  and 
cities  that  were  scattered  up  and  down  the 
thousand  miles  of  coast,  sent  back  to  the  then 
' '  far  West  "  their  enterprising  children.  And 
these  built  up  the  old  homesteads  on  the  ex- 
treme borders  of  New  England,  Central  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Central  Pennsylvania, 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  Go 
and  look  in  upon  one  of  those  homesteads. 
It  is  one  of  thousands  ;  aye,  of  many  thou- 
sands. You  know  the  commodious  character 
of  the  rude  homestead  structures  of  those 
days.  The  great  common  room  is  the  one  in 
which  we  will  find  our  people.  There  is  the 
aged  sire.  Twenty-five  years  ago — with  his 
loving  spouse,  who  now  sits  opposite  to  him 
before  the  wide  hearth — twenty-five  years 
ago  he  came  to  this  "  settlement,"  as  it  is  now 
called,  and  constructed  the  log  cabin  which 
for  a  score  of  years  stood  upon  the  same  spot 
that  ie  now  covered  by  the  more  pretentious 
mansion.  Between  him  and  his  wife  sit  a 
group  of  ten  children  ;  the  least  number  that 
we  can  suppose  for  the  specimen  of  a  family 
gathering  in  such  a  place  and  at  such  a  time. 
Ten  children  are  there.  John,  the  eldest  son, 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  Then  Susan,  then 
Abigail,  then  Dorothy,  then  Elizabeth,  then 
Henry,  then  Ralph,  then  Ezekiel,  then  Mat- 
thew, then  Samuel— Samuel  the  baby  of 
twelve  years  of  age.  There  they  are— ar- 
ranged, as  we  will  suppose,  in  their  seats  before 
the  fire-place  according  to  their  respective 
ages.  But  there  is  one  more  in  the  circle 
whom  we  must  name.  He  does  not  belong 
to  this  household.  Not  yet ;  not  yet.  His 
name  is  "  Reuben."  He'is  sitting  close  be- 
side Dorothy.  It  is  a  cheerful  group.  Our 
fathers  enjoyed  their  family  life  in  those 
times,  as  they  gathered  about  the  evening  fire. 
And  there  was  still  a  necessity  for  the 
warmth  of  the  hearthstone  before  retiring,  in 
the  short  night  season  in  this  late  April  time. 
The  company  is  chatting  gaily  about  the  fest- 
ivities of  the  winter,  and  the  promise  for  pas- 
times through  the  coming  May  and  leafy 
June,  when  a  neighbor  throws  open  the 
kitchen  door,  and — evidently  out  of  breath 
with  running — commences  a  recital  of  the* 
story  of  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord !  He  is  permitted  to  tell  the  report  as 
he  beard  it,  and  can  give  it  at  the  first  ver- 
sion :  and  then,  after  many  expressions  of 
wonderment,  the  father  commences  to  ques- 
tion the  messenger — seeking  every  ascertain- 
able  particular. 

But  ever  since  the  first  sentences  have  been 
uttered  by  the  neighbor,  the  mother  of  that 
family  has  been  sitting  with  her  elbows  on 
her  knees  and  her  wrinkled  face  and  gray 
hair  covered  with  her  hands.  Now  when 
the  telling  is  over,  and  the  cross-examination 
has  begun,  she  looks  up  !  She  fixes  a  stead- 
fast gaze  on  something.  What  is  that  ?  It  is 
something  that  hangs  above  the  mantel  shelf. 
It  is  the  old  Queens-arm  flint-lock  musket, 


that  lies  athwart  the  deer-horn  hooks  on  the 
chimney  front.  She  looks  at  it  steadily  for 
several  minutes  while  the  questioning  is  going 
on.  There  is  one  in  that  company  who  is 
intently  watching  that  mother  now,  and 
evidently  awaiting  her  recognition.  And 
when  she  turns  her  head  so  that  the  two  can 
behold  each  other,  face  to  face,  there  are 
no  tears  in  her  eyes — no  words  come  from  her 
lips.  But  that  other — John — the  eldest  boy, 
the  son  of  her  early  married  life,  John  knows 
what  his  mother  has  been  thinking  about 
— comprehends  it  all !  And  he  speaks  after 
a  little,  in  a  low,  calm  voice  :  "  Yes,  mother, 
I  will  take  the  old  musket  and  go."  And  he 
walks  over  to  her,  and  falls  upon  his  knees 
beside  her  and  receives  her  blessing :  "  0, 
John  !  John  !  You  are  a  brave  boy.  Your 
country  calls  you,  and  you  must  go.  Heaven 
bless  and  keep  you  John  !  And  O,  if  it  be 
His  will  who  has  been  so  kind  to  me  thus  far 
through  all  my  earthly  pilgrimage,  may  you 
be  permitted  to  come  back,  and  may  I  see 
your  face  once  more  before  I  go  hence !" 

Oh  Mother !  type  of  ten  thousand  mothers 
in  that  dreadful  struggle  !  Have  we  lauded 
the  Fathers  of  the  {revolution,  and  forgotten 
thee  ?  Forgive  our  imperfect  memories,  and 
take  the  tribute  now.  Blessed  mothers  of 
the  days  of  the  American  Revolution  ! 

But  there  is  another  competent  soldier  in 
that  little  circle.  John  goes  back  to  his 
former  station  and  takes  his  chair  and  crosses 
to  his  mother's  corner  once  more,  and  sits 
down  beside  her,  with  her  feeble  hand  rest- 
ing in  his.  He  must  needs  sit  beside  her  now, 
for  the  hours  of  companionship  before  de- 
parture are  few.  And  his  favorite  sister, 
Elizabeth — boys  will  have  their  favorite  sis- 
ters when  they  can  choose — comes  and  leans 
over  the  two. 

Just  at  that  moment  Dorothy, — who  has  been 
sitting  close  beside  her  lover,  to  whom  she 
was  to  have  been  married  on  the  succeeding 
Sabbath  day, — turns  sharply  about  in  her  seat 
and  exclaims,  in  an  unwonted  tone  of  voice 
for  her:  "Reuben!"  That  is  all  she  says. 
"  Reuben !  "  It  is  enough.  Reuben  pushes 
back  his  chair  and  rises  at  once.  A  splendid 
specimen  of  an  American  youth.  Over  six 
feet  tall,  and  broad  and  athletic  in  propartion. 
He  almost  springs  from  his  seat ;  yet  it  is  a 
gentle  motion,  as  in  deference  to  her,  though 
so  quick  and  strong.  And  his  gesture  is  not 
wanting  in  some  sort  of  grace,  though  it  is 
vehement.  He  brings  his  huge  right  fist 
squarely  down  into  the  palm  of  his  left  hand, 
and  exclaims :  "  Yes,  Dorothy,  I  am  a-going 
— to-morrow."  The  last  word  comes  out  with 
a  little  hesitation,  but  with  unabated  em- 
phasis. His  ready  answer  makes  a  deep  im- 
pression on  his  betrothed ;  for  she  turns  pale 
and  seems  on  the  verge  of  dizziness.  But,  in 
perfect  health,  and  untutored  in  affectations, 
she  does  not  faint.  She  rises  now  and  excuses 
herself  and  Reuben,  and  goes  with  him  to 
the  distant  window.  It  is  a  solemn  scene. 
Yet  it  is  a  common  scene  of  patriotism. 

Reuben  must  go  ;  he  knows  it.  He  must 
go.  He  would  go  of  his  own  impulse.  And 
yet  he  knows — if  he  thinks  about  such  a 
matter  at  all — that  if  he  did  not  go,  he  could 
never  call  that  maiden,  "wife."-  Nay,  though 
he  could  have  endowed  her  wTith  a  mansion, 
equal  in  value  to  one  of  the  lath  and  plaster 
palaces  of  the  monopoly  lords  whose  dwellings 
crown  the  hilltops  of  San  Francisco. 

It  is  a  solemn  scene!  Presently  the  neigh- 
bor retires,  and  the  father  calls  the  flock  to- 
gether, and  opens  the  great  Bible,  and  reads 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


a  lining  chapter.  And  then  there  is  singing; 
the  .sweet  singing  of  old  familiar  tunes.  And 
then  there  is  a  parental  prayer. 

The  boys  must  go  on  the  morrow.  And 
early  on  the  morrow  they  bid  farewell  to 
mother  and  father,  and  sister  and  betrothed; 
and  equipped  as  best  they  may  be,  they  depart 
for  the  nearest  rendezvous. 

••  Farewell  "  from  mother  and  father  and 
:•.-— John — Farewell !  For  though  that 
aged  matron  shall  see  her  boy  once  again,  as 
she  prayed  she  might  be  permitted  to  do,  per- 
haps it  would  have  been  better  for  her  if  it 
had  been  otherwise  decreed.  For  when  he 
comes  back  after  six  years'  service,  through 
all  the  campaigns,  it  will  be  the  same,  vet  not 
the  same  boy  that  left  her  side.  For  he  will 
be  maimed  and  shattered;  one  leg  gone,  one 
eye  blown  out,  and  the  festering  furrow  of  a 
poison  copper  bullet  across  his  breast.  He 
shall  not  long  out-live  that  mother  on  the  old 
homestead  farm. 

And  the  boy  Reuben.  O,  Dorothy,  "  Fare- 
well!  Farewell!"  No  more  shall  you  see 
your  beloved,  0!  Dorothy  Brown.  For  he 
joined  Gen.  Stark 's  force  near  Benuington, 
and  was  shot  through  and  through  a  dozen 
times  on  the  first  onset  of  that  fierce  encoun- 
ter. And  with  a  "  life- long  hunger  "  in  her 
bosom — at  times  almost,  almost,  not  quite — 
and  less,  and  less  so  disposed  as  the  years 
creep  upon  her — almost  at  times  inclined  to 
repine  and  reproach  herself  because  she  gave 
the  word  which  Reuben  was  so  quick  to  in- 
terpret, and  take  as  a  benediction  on  his  own 
patriotic  thought  and  resolution.  Unwedded 
for  his  sake,  she  passes  through  life  a  heroine 
indeed  for  her  country  ;  a  cheer  and  charm 
in  the  households  of  the  brothers  and  sisters 
of  John  and  Reuben,  who  welcome  her  annual 
visitations. 

How  coldly  is  it  sometimes  said,  that  the 
war  of  independence  was  inevitable.  Not 
so.  As  the  conception  of  a  truly  republican 
form  of  government  belongs  absolutely  to  the 
statesmen  of  our  country,  so  does  the  impulse 
of  patriotism,  in  its  most  unselfish  force  and 
expression,  belong  to  the  soldiers  who  fought 
and  conquered  for  the  principles  that  were 
enunciated  in  the  Declaration.  Perhaps  by 
a  little  temporizing,  a  little  more  of  submis- 
sive delay,  the  uprising  could  have  been 
avoided  ?  With  greater  reason,  we  may  say, 
that  a  little  more  delay  and  submissiveness 
would  have  resulted  in  such  provision 
against  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  Colonies 
to  vindicate  their  rights  that  any  uprising 
would  have  been  of  no  avail. 

Mark  the  concert  of  action.  Those  far 
removed — as  distance  was  then  estimated — 
from  the  immediate  scene  of  conflict,  might 
have  called  up  an  infinite  variety  of  excuses 
for  non-participation  in  the  struggle.  There 
was  no  Government  authority  adequate  for 
the  successful  announcement  and  enforce- 
ment of  a  draft ;  it  was  not  possible  to  con- 
centrate public  opinion  in  the  sparsely  settled 
communities  of  the  interior  so  as  to  compel  or 
constrain  the  tardy  and  unwilling  to  answer 
the  summons  that  was  given.  All  is  :  there 
was  an  independent  understanding  of  the  situ- 
ation, there  was  an  individual  readiness  to  do 
battle  and  endure  great  hardships  for  the  new 
born  cause  of  republican  freedom.  Without 
social  ostracism,  without  that  which  we  would 
now  call  public  sentiment,  the  almost  universal 
response  was  made.  In  the  outer  limits  of 
population  the  first  shont  forabsolute  indepen- 
dence was  heard.  There  were  voices  crying 
in  the  wilderness,  preparing  the  way  for  the 


acceptance  and  adoption  by  the  people  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

We  hear  it  repeated  again  that  the  tide  of 
public  sentiment,  coming  from  many  concur- 
rent sources,  the  natural  growth  of  opinion, 
was  such  that  the  ultimate  severance  of  this 
territory  from  under  the  British  dominion 
was  inevitable  ;  and  that  the  relations  of 
king  and  subject  might  have  been  dissolved 
at  a  far  less  cost  of  blood  and  treasure,  if  a 
better  day  had  been  waited  for  in  hope.  On 
the  contrary,  with  due  reflection,  how  the 
probabilities  rise  for  the  opposite  belief  and 
conviction!  On  the  contrary,  the  hour  was 
most  auspicious.  On  the  contrary,  but  for 
the  Revolutionary  war  as  it  stands  on  record, 
the  probabilities  are  that  this  continent  would 
long  have  remained  the  heritage  of  European 
kings  and  emperors  ;  embracing  no  larger 
separate  areas  than  were  mapped  out  one 
hundred  years  ago  ;  and  probably  subdivided 
thereafter  into  many  sections  of  independent 
and  hostile  authority.  From  the  necessities 
of  the  case,  from  the  geography  of  the  hemis- 
phere, the  people  of  this  continent,  under 
such  circumstances,  would  have  been  con- 
stantly and  most  relentlessly  embroiled  in 
the  bitterest  warfare.  Auspicious  hour  !  We 
celebrate  the  striking  of  the  clock  of  ages  ; 
high  noon  in  the  political  cycle  of  the  planet; 
when  the  old  bell  in  the  steeple  of  Independ- 
ence Hall  whirled  on  its  yoke  and  sent  forth 
the  tidings  that  its  founder  moulded  on  it  : 
"Proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  the  land 
unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 

But,  my  friends,  we  are  not  here  for  the 
mere  recitation  of  events,  however  appropri- 
ate or  necessary  such  recitation  may  be.  You 
have  not  asked  me  to  come  upon  this  platform 
only  that  you  may  hear  the  names  of  our  revo- 
lutionary heroes  again  pronounced  ;  although 
you  may  rejoice  at  the  mention  of  their  titles 
and  the  description  of  some  of  their  patriotic 
deeds  ;  and  so  may  be  agreeably  stirred  anew 
to  join  in  the  special  homage  for  this  occa- 
sion on  account  of  the  recollection  of  their 
labor,  their  sacrifices  and  sufferings,  and 
their  success.  And  as  it  is  not  our  exclusive 
business  to  dwell  upon  personal  and  political 
reminiscences,  though  they  fill  us  with  de- 
light, so  it  is  not  our  highest  present  privi- 
lege to  indulge  in  the  bright  anticipations 
which  we  may  reasonably  cultivate  and  com- 
mend. If  it  be  possible — nay,  it  must  be  so 
—there  is  a  grander,  a  truer,  a  far  more  sat- 
isfactory and  even  majestic  tribute  to  be 
paid  to  the  memories  of  our  Fathers,  than 
could  be  comprised  in  any  form  of  direct  eu- 
logiums.  Ours  is  not  the  circumscribed  work 
of  narration.  Ours  is  not  the  single  service 
of  praise. 

Could  we  suppose  onr  Fathers  yet  living  in 
conscious  proximity  to  us,  perpetual  witnesses 
of  our  conduct  as  citizens,  we  should  most 
assuredly  understand  that,  while  the  words  of 
honor  uttered  for  them,  and  the  representa- 
tions of  their  heroism,  wej-e  pleasing  in  their 
ears,  yet  their  loftier  and  their  only  adequate- 
recompense  must  spring  from  our  watchful- 
ness and  industry,  and  our  own  complete  self- 
dedication  as  the  friends  of  freedom.  A  con- 
cise and  dispassionate  consideration  of  our 
duties,  and  an  inquiry  into  our  ability  and 
disposition  to  perform  those  obligations  which 
have  come  with  our  rights  and  advantages, 
is  the  theme  for  sacred  individual  contempla- 
tion this  day. 

As  I  cannot  pause  to  qualify  my  limited 
number  of  sentences  so  as  to  guard  against 
suspicion  of  an  unwarranted  spirit  of  dicta- 


THEN  AND   NOW. 


tion  ;  as  I  cannot  finish  every  paragraph  with 
a  protest  against  any  possible  challenge  in 
any  mind  on  account  of  the  absolute  nature 
of  my  statement  or  suggestion,  I  wish  to  say, 
once  for  all :  I  claim  no  peculiar  aptitude 
for  the  office  to  which  your  kind  considera- 
tion has  called  me  here  this  day,  and  I  have 
no  wish  to  impose  upon  any  one  a  view  of  the 
condition  and  prospects  of  affairs  that  is  repug- 
nant to  well  considered  and  established  con- 
victions. I  shall  speak  plainly  and  firmly  as 
I  think — and  so  always  must  I  speak,  if  I 
speak  at  all — and  yet  you  will  believe  me 
when  I  say  that  I  have  entire  respect  for 
your  opinions  and  beliefs  touching  any  sub- 
ject upon  which  I  may  dwell,  or  to  which  I 
may  make  passing  allusion.  One  thing  I 
know,  if  I  know  my  own  heart — and  indeed 
it  is  the  invocation  of  my  discourse — I  can 
with  you  this  day  earnestly  seek  to  lay  aside 
all  partisanship,  all  personal  antipathy  or 
likings,  wherever  they  may  exist :  that  we 
may  commune  with  heartiness  and  judge  with 
candor. 

Our  characteristics  as  a  nation  have  un- 
doubtedly undergone  a  great  change  and  ac- 
quired a  peculiar  force  by  reason  of  the  inter- 
mingling with  other  than  the  original  stock. 
The  immigration  of  many  millions  of  foreign- 
ers to  this  country  during  the  past  hundred 
years,  has  made  up  a  population,  especially 
in  the  new  States  and  Territories,  with  whom 
appeals  have  a  different  and  often  discordant 
sound,  and  representations  of  fact  have  a 
different  and  contrasting  emphasis.  Had  the 
population  of  this  couniry  been  confined 
almost  entirely  to  the  progeny  of  those  who 
dwelt  in  the  thirteen  colonies  at  the  date  of 
independence,  the  census  roll  would  scarcely 
have  been  one-third  as  large  as  now,  and  the 
development  of  industries  must  have  been 
proportionately  small.  We  have  to  congratu- 
late ourselves  upon  great  accessions  from  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth.  The  demon- 
stration of  "  a  land  of  the  free  and  a  home  of 
the  brave,"  has  been  in  itself  a  mighty  testi- 
mony to  the  wisdom  of  our  earliest  statesman- 
ship and  diplomacy.  The  homogeneousness 
that  is  desirable  must  come  with  the  years  ; 
and  not  only  t'he  already  admitted  advantage, 
but  the  enhanced  physical  strength  and 
beauty  in  years  to  come,  will  a  thousand  fold 
repay  the  costs  of  evils  which  are  commonly 
cast  to  the  ^account  of  an  immigration  of  peo- 
ple easily  imposed  upon  by  the  managers  of 
politics  and  the  heartless  aggrandisers  of  trade. 

We  are  enjoying  the  full  fruits  of  our 
Fathers'  labors.  We  can  cite  a  hundred  bene- 
fits against  one  great  wrong  in  our  National 
or  State  life.  But  are  we  going  forward  in 
the  pathway  which"  their  principles  and  policy 
marked  out  1  Or  where  is  the  recognized, 
the  demonstrable  deviation  that  requires  a 
resolute  and  untiring  effort  of  correction  ? 
Are  there  crying  wrongs  of  which  we  should 
complain,  with  the  temper  and  resolution  of 
reform  ?  Let  us  see.  I  remember  the  time 
.  i*-fihort,  and  I  set  aside  a  flood  of  suggestions 
— i-oming  directly  to  the  main  and  overshad- 
owing issues. 

"  The  day  of  material  development !  "  Yes ! 
"  Wonderful,"  is  written  on  the  doorposts  of 
the  factories  and  foundries  and  machine 
shops  and  laboratories  of  the  land.  Wonder- 
ful !  The  lightning  train  that  recently  bore 
its  passengers  across  the  continent — 3,000 
miles  in  80  hours — is  but  one  of  many  de- 
monstrations. What  is  to  be  said  of  all  this 
wonderful  advance  by  inventions,  and  by 
their  applications  with  money,  nerve,  and 


muscle  ?  I  say  :  Right  here  our  needs  and 
our  dangers  and  our  duties  rise  to  their 
highest  mountains  of  observation  and  demand. 

God  Almighty  put  it  into  the  minds  of  many 
men  of  many  lands,  to  discover  two  principles 
of  motive  power — Steam  and  Electricity. 
The  very  methods  by  which  they  were  dis- 
covered and  first  applied,  and  the  fact  that 
several  inventors  of  apparently  almost  equal 
merit  in  widely  separated  countries  were 
simultaneously  recorded  and  renowned,  is  a 
Coincidence  of  Providence,  establishing  the 
intention  of  universal  use  and  perfect  popular 
enjoyment.  THE  GREAT  ENDOWMENT  OF  THE 
CENTURY  was  given  for  the  children  of  the 
Century,  and  for  all  the  children  of  every 
land  thereafter.  So  reads  the  Biography  of 
the  Arts.  Now  what  is  the  fact  ?  Out  of 
these  very  inventions  spring  and  grow  the 
present  wants  and  the  awful  present  perils  of 
the  Republic  !  I  shall  not  weary  you  with  an 
old,  old  story.  I  shall  state  the  fact. 

We  have  a  work  of  Vigilance,  for  we  have  a 
war  for  emancipation.  None  are  so  blind  as 
not  in  some  degree  to  recognize  the  fact  of 
oppression  within  our  borders ;  few  are  so 
situated  as  not  to  feel  the  weight  of  tyranny 
thus  imposed.  The  fact  is  that  we  are  cursed 
with  monopolies  which  originally  derived 
their  power  from  the  unwitting  consent  and 
aid  of  the  burdened  and  oppressed — by  con- 
tributions obtained  under  false  pretenses,  or 
extorted  in  devious  ways  of  legislation.  Our 
need  is  redemption  from  the  thraldom  of 
monopolists  ;  and  this  need  we  can  more 
particularly  specify  in  two  instances,  with 
distinct  and  indisputable  arraignments. 

Such  an  endowment  as  was  never  given  to 
any  enterprise  of  a  similar  nature,  has  been 
granted  by  our  General  and  State  Govern- 
ments to  the  greatest  railroad  monopoly  of 
the  land.  Proportionately  great  has  been 
the  gift  of  the  people  to  that  other,  and  in 
some  respects  more  outrageous  extortioner, 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 
We  cannot  disguise  the  fact  that  our  National 
Legislature  and  our  State  Assembly  are  de- 
ceived and  debauched  by  the  agents  of  these 
great  monopolists,  in  combination  with  the 
different  local  monopolies  which  are  to  be 
found  in  any  particular  commonwealth  at  any 
particular  time,  or  knocking  at  the  door  of 
any  particular  session  of  Congress. 

I  have  been  an  eye-witness  to  so  much  of 
these  corrupting  and  bamboozling  processes 
from  these  sources,  that  I  am  sure  no  one  can 
be  more  competent  to  relate  the  fact.  And  it 
is  a  momentous  fact  which  requires  a  promi- 
nent and  serious  consideration  at  this  day. 

What  is  the  want,  founded  upon  the  needs 
which  this  condition  of  affairs  indicates? 
Faithful  representation.  The  popular  judg- 
ment— the  prevailing  popular  judgment — 
is  correct.  The  need  is  for  faithful  repre- 
sentation. Born  of  the  law,  enabled  to 
construct  their  great  works  with  the  money 
of  the  people,  these  monopolists  are,  by  the 
terms  of  the  statute,  bound  to  answer  faith- 
ful representatives.  Yet,  year  after  year 
goes  by,  pledge  after  pledge  is  made,  and  the 
tyrants  within  our  borders,  the  Emperors 
of  the  empire  within  an  empire,  laugh  at 
our  discomfiture,  and  mock  when,  after  many 
failures,  we  again  seek  legislative  emancipa- 
tion. 

It  is  not  a  quarrel  of  dollars  and  cents  be- 
tween the  mass  of  the  people  and  a  few  in- 
corporations. It  is  a  question  of  national 
integrity — it  is  a  question  concerning  liberty 
for  the  private  enterprise.  The  finances. 


THEN  AND   NOW. 


of  the  country,  the  prosperity  of  commu- 
nities, are  impaired  and  jeopardized  alto- 
gether. Every  epecies  of  business  is  either 
brought  directly  under  tribute  to  these 
monopolies,  or  threatened  with  ultimate  levy. 

Our  duty  as  good  citizens  and  as  patriots 
has  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  clear  and 
simple.  For  honest  representation  you  must 
have  unmistakable  obligations  spread  before 
the  people  at  the  beginning  of  every  political 
canvass.  Not  only  for  the  proper  and  avowed 
purpose  of  holding  representatives  to  their 
general  agreement,  but  for  their  moral  and 
explicit  support  in  discharging  the  functions 
of  their  oflice. 

We  speak  not  now  as  partisans,  but  we 
consult  as  patriots.  Some  representatives 
are  deceived  ;  a  few  are  bought.  Some  repre- 
sentatives are  seduced  by  the  blandishments 
of  skillful  lobbyists  ;  a  few  put  themselves  up 
at  auction  for  the  services  which  they  can 
render.  The  most  who  fail  of  honorable 
record  are  deceived  or  intimidated.  What  is 
required  is  nothing  less  than  a  clear  declara- 
tion of  rights,  and  the  popular  prescribing  of 
a  corresponding  statute  for  enactment. 

Let  the  platform  read  :  "  Every  man  nomi- 
nated by  this  Convention  is  pledged  to  intro- 
duce, vote  for,  and  support,  without  hesitation, 
equivocation  or  mental  reservation  the  follow- 
ing bill,  tp-wit  :  Be  it  enacted,  etc.  Section 
1.  No  railroad  company  in  this  State,  built 
wholly  or  in  part  by  subsidies  from  this 
State,  or  from  counties  or  cities  in  the  State, 
shall  charge  over  4  cents  per  mile  for  each 
passenger  carried  thereon.  Section  2.  Any 
ticket  vendor,  or  conduct  or,  or  other  officer  of 
any  railroad  company  described  in  Sec.  1, 
who  shall  be  guilty  of  charging  or  collecting 
any  money  in  excess  of  4  cents  per  mile  for 
each  and  every  passenger  traveling  on  such 
road,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding 
$500,  or  imprisonment  in  the  County  Jail 
not  exceeding  six  months  for  each  and  every 
such  offense  of  which  he  may  be  found 
guilty."  And  similar  provisions  with  refer- 
ence to  railroad  freights  would  meet  with  the 
same  burden.  A  like  pledge  exacted  from 
candidates  for  Congress  would  secure  for  the 


people  a  just  tariff  upon  the  roads  which  have 
ir  charter  rights  and  their  subsidies  from 


thei 


the  National  Government. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  say  that  this  is  the 
exact  form  that  should  be  adopted  in  all  cases, 
but  it  furnishes  a  pattern  that  is  deserving  of 
close  imitation. 

And  so  should  the  pledges  read  in  all  large 
communities  for  legislation  against  every  spe- 
cies of  local  monopoly  which  deals  with  the 
necessities  of  life,  or  with  the  prerogatives 
and  privileges  of  common  carriers. 

Mark  you,  it  is  not  proposed  that  the  Na- 
tiou  or  State  or  municipality  should  assume  a 
naternal  government.  Quite  to  the  contrary. 
I  know  this  is  the  plea  of  the  great  monopo- 
lists :  That  the  logical  deduction  or  conclu- 
sion from  the  popular  call  for  emancipating 
legislation  of  this  character  will  result  in  inter- 
ference in  private  enterprise  and  legitimate 
liusiness  competition.  The  plea  is  more  than 
untrue,  coming  from  such  a  source.  The  fact 
is  that  these  monopolists  —  as  must  be  reiter- 
ated —  interfere  directly  and  absolutely  with 
private  enterprise  in  euch  a  nanuer  as  to  de- 
stroy the  legitimate  competition  of  trade. 

Our  government  has  been  requested  to  en- 
dow a  great  undertaking  on  a  deliberately 
written  obligation  to  compensate  for  such  as- 
sistance by  reasonable  rates  for  the  carrying 


of  persons  and  property  and  communications. 
Not  only  has  this  obligation  been  set  aside, 
but  the  private  business  of  whole  communi- 
ties is  practically  usurped  by  the  magnates  of 
these  corporatio'ns.  And  year  by  year  usurp- 
ation and  absorption  increase.  'I  state  the 
fact.  Every  consideration  of  law  and  equity, 
every  sense  of  justice  and  right,  every  im- 
pulse of  patriotism,  springs  directly  in  the 
form  of  reason  and  emotion  on  behalf  of  this 
long  sought  emancipation.  Surely  the  day 
ought  to  be  expected  when  the  first  and  last 
thought  of  enterprising  business  men  in  the 
great  centers  of  trade  should  not  be  one  of 
obsequious  consideration  for  the  favor  of  in- 
corporators  who  have  been  munificently  en- 
dowed by  Nation,  State,  and  city.  Surely  the 
people  of  this  and  adjacent  communities 
ought  not  to  despair  from  the  idea  of  a  reason- 
able combination  of  capital  and  enterprise 
required  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
over  the  natural  central  mountain  route  — 
across  the  valleys  of  Plumas  and  Sierra.  Yet 
we  must  know  that  efforts  heretofore  inaugu- 
rated and  directed  towards  that  work  of 
construction  have  been  defeated  by  the  influ- 
ence which  the  railroad  monopoly'in  Califor- 
nia has  brought  to  bear.  ftfifJCTQi  C  l—'lfc 

The  other  great  moncjJOry  of  the  laud, 
threatening  directly  and  indirectly  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people,  is  known  by  the  name  of 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 
Commencing  with  a  capital  oi  a  few  thous- 
and dollars,  it  has  crept  up  to  the  ownership 
of  nearly  all  the  "  wires"  in  the  Union  ;  and 
by  purchase  and  construction  now  owns 
$15,000,000  worth  of  property  of  this  descrip- 
tion ;  while  its  stock  has  been  watered  $100,- 
000,000  for  the  benefit  of  its  managers  and 
manipulators.  To-day  it  practically  has  the 
monopoly  in  the  transmission  of  the  telegraphic 
correspondence  throughout  the  land.  To-day 
it  is  the  great  corrupter  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  Before  its  lobbyists  made 
their  appearance  at  Washington,  such  a  thing 
as  bribery  was  comparatively  unknown  in 
the  halls  of  the  National  Legislature.  It  was 
an  exceptional  and  notorious  case  of  perfidy, 
when  the  legislator  at  Washington  forfeited 
his  direct  or  implied  promise  to  his  constitu- 
ents. But  the  railroad  and  telegraph  monop- 
olies have  changed  all  that.  The  railroad  has 
scores  of  paid  lobbyists  at  the  National  Cap- 
itol ;  strikers  of  every  sort,  lawyers  of  every 
grade,  laud  agents  and  general  jobbers  of 
eveiy  title.  The  telegraph  has  not  so  many 
persons  ostensibly  and  exclusively  engaged  in 
the  business  of  corrupting  the  National  Legis- 
lature. But  its  forces  are  better  disciplined, 
and  its  list  of  employees  on  half  pay  for 
emergencies  fully  equals  the  catalogue  of  its 
associate  in  this  business.  The  telegraph  mo- 
nopoly not  only  buys  Congressmen  with  gold, 
but  it  has  the  reputation  of  many  Represent- 
atives (if  not  all)  in  its  grasp,  and  bullies  or 
seduces  those  who  are  not  to  be  bought  into 
silence  or  opposition  with  respect  to  all  feas- 
able  measures  for  a  postal  telegraph. 

Is  the  exemplification  of  the  matter  prac- 
tical in  a  few  brief  sentences  ?  Judged  by 
the  terms  of  the  Eastern  roads,  constructed 
almost  entirely  by  private  enterprise  and  pri- 
vate capital,  you  should  be  able  to  travel  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York,  with  first  class 
accommodations,  for  $00.  You  are  required 
to  pay  $130.  Gauged  by  the  actual  cost  of 
construction  —  without  considering  the  fact 
that  the  original  line  from  Omaha  to  San 
Francisco  was  paid  for  by  the  Government, 
State  and  City  subsidies — you  ought  not  to  be 


10 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


taxed  more  than  fifty  cents  at  the  outside,  for 
a  twenty-word  message  from  Quincy  to  the 
Atlantic  Coast.  With  the  postal  telegraph  in 
operation,  you  would  not  be  required  to  pay 
more  than  twenty-five  cents  for  a  twenty- 
word  message  hence  to  the  Eastern  States  ; 
while  for  messages  accumulating  for  dispatch 
in  the  night  season^  one-half  cent  a  word 
would  be  the  extreme  tax  upon  your  corre- 
spondence. 

Now,  the  Pacific  railroads  were  endowed, 
practically,  with  $150,000,000.  The  original 
telegraph  line  from  San  Francisco  to  Omaha 
was  more  than  paid  for  by  subsidies.  Cyrus 
W.  Field  announced  that  its  original  cost  was 
more  than  covered  by  the  net  receipts  during 
the  first  year  after  its  completion. 

The  railroad  and  telegraph  monopolies, 
through  their  agents  at  Washington,  have 
boasted  of  their  ability  to  pay  $10,000,000  to 
promote  and  maintain  their  "interests"  at 
the  CapitolXfor  the  services,  during  one  ses- 
sion,  of  lobbyists  and  newspaper  writers,  and 
for  the  extra  salary  of  Senators  and  Congress- 
men. How  much  of  this  sum,  or  how  much 
greater  sum,  they  do  expend,  may  remain  some- 
thing of  a  mystery  to  the  world  in  general. 
We  do  know  "that  Congressmen  and  Senators 

go  to  Washington  poor  and  retire  after  a 
rief  term  of  service  with  an  abundance  of 
money  or  a  vast  property  in  land. 

A  free  press  is  one  of  the  safeguards  of 
republican  institutions.  Have  we  a  free 
press  in  the  United  States  ?  We  can  hardly 
boast  of  anything  of  the  kind,  except  in  the 
towns  and  villages  of  the  land.  Such  a  pub- 
lication as  deserves  to  be  called  a  free  daily 
journal  is  an  exception  to  the  rule  in  the 
large  cities  of  this  Union.  Startling  as  the 
assertion  may  be  to  some,  it  is  the  simple 
truth.  By  the  combination  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Co.  and  the  Associated 
Press,  and  the  railroad  monopolies,  almost 
every  daily  paper  in  all  our  large  cities  is 
brought  under  the  dominion  of  the  monopolies 
and  extortionists.  Some  journals  are  more 
and  some  less  stringently  held  to  their  service. 
Some  owe  more  allegiance  to  one  monopoly 
than  another.  All  are  permitted  to  make  a 
periodical  diversion  on  the  side  of  the  people, 
that  they  may  the  more  readily  and  efficiently 
defend  and  promote  the  interests  of  their 
masters  in  times  of  pressing  danger!  And 
all  these  newspapers  are  always  professing 
great  concern  in  behalf  of  the  people's  rights. 
This  is  a  plain,  unvarnished  recital  of  con- 
temporaneous history.  The  metropolitan 
press,  as  a  rule,  is  a  disgrace  to  our  country, 
and  a  standing  menance  to  our  freedom. 
"The  exceptions  to  the  rule"  are  so  notable 
as  to  require  no  enumeration  before  any  in- 
telligent promiscuous  audience.  You  can 
name  on  your  fingers  the  honest  daily  city 
journals  of  national  reputation.  Not  only  is 
the  metropolitan  press  under  the  dominion  of 
the  monopolies  referred  to,  but  characteristi- 
cally ready  for  any  job  of  public  plunder  that 
may  be  planned  and  perpetrated  against  the 
people. 

During  the  revolutionary  war  there  was  no 
dailyjournal  printed  in  the  Colonies.  There 
were  scores  of  weekly  newspapers,  most  of 
which  were  patriotic  ;  and  the  best  among 
them  was  published  by  a  woman  in  the  city 
of  Boston.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  if,  propor- 
tionate to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  there 
had  been  a  daily  press  in  this  country  100 
years  ago,  with  the  same  ratio  of  such  venal 
sheets  as  afflict  us  to-day,  Washington  and 
his  associates  would  have  been  so  misrepre- 


sented and  maligned,  and  the  large  commu- 
nities would  have  been  so  deceived,  that  suc- 
cess for  our  arms  would  have  been  impossi- 
ble. 

Our  metropolitan  newspapers  do  not  lack 
for  ability.  Their  local  columns  often  display 
admirable  judgment  and  industry.  There  are 
employed  in  writing  for  them  many  excellent 
gentlemen  and  thorough  scholars.  But  as  a 
rule  their  management  is  entirely  on  a  mer- 
cenary basis.  They  are  up  for  "sale.  And 
when -the  owners  cannot  sell  their  columns 
in  favor  of  a  monopoly  or  a  job,  they  make 
a  dress  parade  of  their  virtue  by  attacking 
that  particular  monopoly  or  job;  saying  again 
for  the  thousandth  time,  "  O,  people,  see  how 
we  love  you  and  defend  yonr  interests!" 
There  is  no  phrase  or  sentence  of  encomium 
which  can  attach  to  the  business  of  journal- 
ism which  they  are  not  handy  in  placing  to 
their  own  unblemished  credit ! 

These  papers  would  make  you  believe  that 
you  owe  to  them  that  sentiment  of  hostility 
to  some  monopolies  which  has  sometimes 
arisen  to  burning  force  in  this  State.  They 
did  not  excite  that  sentiment ;  they  did  not 
promote  that  sentiment.  It  originated  and 
spread  and  became  apparent  and  took  an  or- 
ganized force  in  spite  of  them.  Then  it  was 
their  function,  as  the  paid  creatures  of  the 
monopolies,  to  proclaim  themselves  the  au- 
thors of  that  sentiment,  the  originators  of  the 
movement  that  belonged  to  it.  They  pro- 
posed to  champion  the  rights  of  the  people 
and  lead  the  movement  to  legislative  success. 
But  when  the  hour  came  for  focalizing  work 
in  the  legislation,  when  proceedings  were 
narrowed  down  so  as  to  mean  business  in 
emancipation,  then  was  doubt  and  confusion 
cast  upon  this  or  that  particular  measure; 
then  the  work  of  general  demoralization  was 
the  service  of  the  Metropolitan  Press.  Or  if 
the  people's  organizations,  having  had  expe- 
rience in  this  kind  of  treachery,  refused 
longer  obeisance  to  these  organs  of  incorpo- 
rators  and  corruptors — put  no  more  trust  in 
such  leadership — then  the  Metropolitan  Press, 
with  great  flourish,  withdrew  altogether  from 
the  battle  ;  declared  that  it  was  a  hopeless 
war;  or  remained  silent  as  to  the  issues,  and 
indulged  in  frequent  and  extended  praise  of 
the  greatest  enemies  of  the  public,  whom  but 
yesterday  it  pretended  to  dislike.  I  speak  of 
what  I  have  seen  again  and  again  illustrated 
in  California  and  Nevada,  and  in  the  cities 
and  Legislatures  of  those  States.  Repeatedly 
have  I  seen  such  newspaper  demoralization 
and  treachery  illustrated  at  the  National 
Capitol  and  in  the  city  of  Sacramento. 

Our  unknown  relatives  and  progenitors  of 
the  middle  ages  were  Priest-ridden.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America  are 
Press  ridden.  The  necessity  for  the  hour  is 
for  the  people  to  do  their  own  thinking  and 
manage  their  own  political  organizations, 
Emancipation  from  monopolies  means,  first, 
emancipation  from  the  dictation  of  the  Met- 
ropolitan Daily  Press.  Which  leads  me  in 
conclusion  of  this  portion  of  my  address  to 
declare,  that  the  present  hope  of  the  country 
is  in  the  people  of  the  country  places  and  in 
the  press  of  the  towns  and  villages  of  the 
nation. 

I  am  far  from  being  one  of  those  who 
believe  that  the  admitted  dangers  to  the  Be- 
public  are  such  as  make  the  balance  of 
reasonable  expectation  against  the  promise  of 
perpetuity  for  our  institutions;  though  many 
men,  eminent  for  cool  judgment  and  under- 
standing, have  not  hesitated  to  express  such  an 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


11 


opinion.  I  do  not  think  that  these  monopolies 
can  t,ro  much  further  in  the  work  of  extortion 
and  corruption.  Because  I  believe  in  the 
people  of  the  country  ;  I  believe  in  an  arous- 
ed and  thoroughly  concentrated  public  senti- 
ment. On  this  we  must  depend. 

Our  principal  cities  contain  a  large  pro- 
portion of  worthy  men,  but,  these  cities  are 
practically  under  the  control  of  rings.  Sorne- 
timcs  moat  under  the  management  of  the 
worst  classes  in  the  community,  when  ac- 
cording to  the  outside  repute,  given  through 
the  press,  they  have  been  freed  from  such 
wretched  domination.  The  temper  and  dis- 
position of  the  present  generation  of  people 
in  the  country  places,  enlightened  and  excited 
for  proper  action,  and  the  educated  patriotism 
of  the  children  who  are  to  come  after  us,  are 
the  main  reliances  for  substantial  and  en- 
during reform  in  this  country.  Our  metro- 
politan press  is  the  chief  lever  in  so  shaping 
matters  political  in  pur  cities  that  we  can 
hope  for  little  or  nothing  of  reform  legislation 
by  the  city  representatives.  Keform  we 
must  undoubtedly  achieve,  if  the  Republic  is 
to  stand. 

As  much  as  anyone,  I  regret  and  deplore  the 
fact  that  rich  thieves  can  buy  seats  in  Congress 
and  the  Legislatures,  from  many  districts  in 
the  land.  But  the  danger  thus  threatened  and 
embodied  is  apparently  met  by  a  rising 
popular  disgust  at  the  exhibition  which  these 
creatures  make  when  they  enter  the  halls  of 
legislation,  and  commence  to  recite  the  speech- 
es written  for  them  by  their  accomplished 
private  secretaries.  I  protest  against  the  ar- 
rogance and  impositions  and  positive  tyranny 
of  the  monopolists, — with  the  admission  that 
the  day  of  our  downfall  is  not  far  distant  if 
their  rule  is  not  checked  and  overthrown  ; 
but  I  think  I  see  their  doom  in  the  white 
heat  of  a  just  public  sentiment — a  public  senti- 
ment organized  as  our  Fathers  combined  for  it 
in  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  The  property, 
the  "  vested  rights  *'  of  these  monopolies,  will 
not  be  theirs  many  years  longer,  at  all  events, 
if  they  manage  or  are  permitted  to  control 
without  qualification  as  they  have  done  for 
many  years  past.  For  another  revolution  is 
at  liana  !  But  I  look  for  a  practical  and  peace- 
ful solution  of  our  difficulties ;  and  I  give  my 
illustration  of  plans  and  methods  and  results. 

We  are  exorbitantly  taxed  by  the  railroad 
monopolists.  Our  private  business  enterprises 
are  impaired,  or  destroyed,  or  rendered  miser- 
ably subordinate  to  the  monopolies.  Now, 
it  is  no  answer  to  all  this  to  say,  that  the 
main  enterprise  has  been  a  benefit  to  the 
State  and  Nation.  If  there  is  any  good  in 
such  enterprises,  the  people  are  entitled  to  a 
reasonable  measure  of  benefit.  The  inven- 
tions were  given  for  all  the  people.  More 
than  this;  with  respect  to  the  monopolies 
most  complained  of  we  restate  the  fact,  that 
their  works  were  built  with  the  people's 
money.  A  large  revenue,  an  immense  per- 
centage on  the  capital  that  is  legitimately 
represented — tho'  that  capital  come  from  the 
State  and  Nation — would  not  be  begrudged 
to  those  who  control  the  great  railroads  and 
telegraph  lines  of  the  country.  But  the 
extortions  are  tremendous  and  unendurable  ; 
and  they  are  kept  up  by  corruptly  defeating 
all  honest  legislation  touching  their  revenues 
and  their  tariff.  Now,  honest  legislation 
must  be  had.  It  must  be  had  by  the  people 
speaking  directly  through  explicitly  pledged 
representatives,  in  the  manner  which  has 
already  been  indicated.  We  must  have  a 
faithful  representation  of  the  popular  will. 


But  suppose  a  proper  public  sentiment, 
directed  in  a  literal  business  channel,  was 
cultivated  among  the  people?  Take  the  out- 
side of  the  expense  of  a  trunk  railroad  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  on  a  central  route. 
Honestly  constructed,  it  should  not  cost  more 
than  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  But 
give  the  vast  margin  of  fifty  millions— one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars.  Ought 
there  not  to  be  ten  thousand  men,  of  all  the 
merchants  at  home  and  abroad,  who  are 
deeply  interested  in  trade  across  the  conti- 
nent, who  could  well  afford  to  actually  give 
ten  thousand  dollars  each  towards  the  con- 
struction of  such  a  road, — on  promise  of  a 
reasonable  tariff  of  freights  and  fares  ? 
This  would  aggregate  one  hundred  millions 
of  dollars.  Are  there  not  five  thousand 
merchants  and  private  citizens  who  would 
invest  five  thousand  dollars  each  in  the  stock 
of  such  an  enterprise,  after  such  a  contribu- 
tion, with  the  allied  impulse  of  hostility  to 
the  monopoly  and  a  sentiment  of  patriotism  ? 
Suppose  that  this  number  of  persons  are 
thoroughly  informed  in  the  premises,  and 
fully  aware  of  the  necessity  for  breaking  up 
the  corruption  which  springs  from  the 
monopoly  that  is  thus  to  be  defeated  and 
overthrown.  Is  it  an  incredible  thing  ?  Are 
we  asking  or  proposing  a  co-operation  and 
combination  that  is  simply  ridiculous  ?  Is  it 
so  in  this  Centennial  Year  ?  This  latter  in- 
vestment would  add  twenty-five  millions  to 
the  enterprise.  Then,  are  there  not  twenty 
thousand  persons  who  would  invest  two 
thousand  dollars  each  ?  Aggregating  forty 
millions  of  dollars.  In  all  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  millions — enough  to  construct  a 
railroad  and  a  ten-wire  telegraph  line  across 
the  continent !  The  very  figures,  when 
spread  before  the  eye,  indicate,  and  it  seems 
to  me  demonstrate,  the  entire  reasonableness 
of  the  expectation — provided  there  is  any 
truth  in  our  assuming  a  deep  seated  and  wide- 
spread spirit  of  patriotism  in  the  Republic. 

Public  spirit  is  patriotism,  when  applied  to 
the  business  enterprises  of  a  great  country. 
I  wish  I  had  the  opportunity  to  emphasize 
this  statement  with  many  illustrations  that 
press  in  upon  me.  Public  spirit  is  patriotism, 
when  citizens  are  well  informed  as  to  their 
duties,  and  conscientiously  bound  to  their 
fulfillment.  And  the  public  spirit  should,  in 
these  early  days  of  the  new  century,  build 
your  rival  railways  by  southern  passes,  and 
over  your  own  na'tural  and  incomparable  cen- 
tral route. 

But  you  may  accept  a  proposition  more 
closely  drawn  to  the  capacity  of  the  masses 
of  the  people.  From  one  hundred  thousand 
citizens  expect  for  such  an  enterprise  an  in- 
vestment— not  a  gift — of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars each.  There  is  one  hundred  millions. 
From  one  hundred  thousand  more  expect  a 
contribution  of  five  hundred  dollars  each. 
This  would  suffice  for  the  construction  of  a  ri- 
val central  transcontinental  railroad.  And 
then  there  are  two  hundred  thousand  persons 
directly  interested  in  the  success  of  the  pro- 
ject ;  the  persons  best  qualified  to  contribute 
to  the  success  of  the  enterprise — to  confer 
and  build  up  an  enduring  patronage  on  the 
new  road  ana  under  the  new  and  reasonable 
regulations. 

Or,  once  more,  we  will  suppose — you  may 
say  imagine — that  half  a  million  of  people 
contribute  for  such  a  purpose  one  hundred 
dollars.  This  is  fifty  millions.  After  such  a 
subscription  was  made,  ten  thousand  men  of 
all  classes  of  capitalists  would  gladly  hasten 


12 


THEN  AND   NOW. 


to  the  investment  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
each ;  and  then  we  should  have  the  rival 
road  and  an  everlasting  competition. 

Is  this  a  Utopian  scheme  ?  Will  any  one 
say  this  is  a  ".South  sea  bubble  "  ?  The  value 
of  this  investment,  the  substantial  excellence 
of  the  work,  cannot  be  successfully  chal- 
lenged. But  you  cannot  laugh  at  any  such 
proposition  so  heartily  as  the  British  minis- 
try, one  hundred  years  ago,  shouted  in 
derision  at  the  protest  of  the  Colonies  against 
taxation,  and  the  threats  of  the  Colonists 
for  war  and  independence. 

Fellow  citizens,  what  are  we  doing  ? 
Boasting  of  our  freedom  ?  Boasting  of  our 
lineage  ?  Boasting  of  the  courage  of  the 
past !  Boasting  of  the  power  to  maintain 
ourselves  against  the  combined  governments 
of  Europe  in  a  foreign  war !  And  yet  so 
miserably  poor  within  ourselves  ;  so  utterly 
devoid  of  the  fraternal  spirit  of  co-operation 
as  against  the  tyrants  that  are  at  our  own 
thresnold,  that  we  must  join  the  monopoly's 
press  and  the  "  silver-tongued  "  orators  who 
are  pensioned  by  the  rich  thieves  and  fools  in 
Congress — who  are  hired  for  the  work  of 
mocking — and  sneer  and  scoff  at  every  such 
plan  as  this  for  emancipation  ! 

O,  for  the  spirit  of  co-operation  and  patriot- 
ism that  exists  in  the  new-born  Bepublic  of 
France  !  For  the  like  of  it,  as  there  recently 
exhibited  in  the  payment  of  the  national 
debt,  would  bring  to  pass  all  these  desirable 
consummations. 

Nor  is  this  a  mere  matter  of  faith,  or  a  kind 
imputing  of  moral  disposition  in  secular  enter- 
prise. Seventy-five  millions  of  money  are 
daily  thrown  over  from  one  hand  to  another 
in  the  stock  transactions  of  the  country  ;  and 
sometimes  in  San  Francisco  this  amount  is 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  in  its  represented 
forms,  within  the  two  sessions  of  the  Boards 
that  congregate  within  the  halls  of  hazard. 
The  audacity  for  such  a  popular  scheme,  the 
courage  for  such  an  investment,  is  not  lacking. 
And  there  is  often  a  disclosed  ambition  among 
men  who  control  immense  amounts  of  capital 
at  the  centers  of  trade,  to  leave  some  record 
worthy  of  the  name  of  humanity.  Even 
among  the  worst,  even  those  who  force  young 
men  into  corners  of  tribulation, — and  take 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  from  the 
fruits  of  the  forgeries  to  which  their  victims 
have  by  them  been  compelled, — investments 
have  been  made  in  theological  seminaries  with 
some  hope  of  a  popular  human,  if  not  a 
Divine  forgiveness.  And  this  is  confessedly 
going  down  to  the  lowest  plane  of  expecta- 
tion. But  let  it  be  made  known  in  various 
ways  that  the  people  would  recognize  the 
enterprise  indicated  as  worthy  of  execution 
by  men  claiming  the  highest  and  purest  of 
patriotic  motives — let  attention  be  so  directed 
and  emphasized  —  and  the  money  wonld 
come ! 

And  this  is  not  speaking  of  utter  impossi- 
bilities; for  in  a  thousand  and  one  small  com- 
munities, at  a  proportionate  cost  and  sacrifice, 
similar  results  have  been  attained  in  this 
Kepublic,  and  in  all  the  other  civilized  nations 
of  the  earth. 

We  must  cultivate  this  public  sentiment,  un- 
to a  practically  emancipating  application  and 
conclusion.  We  must  not  deny  the  possibility 
of  its  existence,  and  its  practicable  workings. 
We  must  stimulate  its  exercise  by  mapping 
out  ways  for  its  development  and  its  display. 
We  must  not  be  shamed  from  giving  utter- 
ance to  such  expectations,  by  "the  derisive 
laugh  of  the  monopolists,  who  do  accompany 


their  editors  and  orators  when  they  say: 
"  You  would  be  very  free  with  other  people's 
money !  " 

Think  of  it!  Think  of  it!  What  three 
millions  of  people  could  do  one  hundred  years 
ago  !  Tossing  their  all  into  the  cause  of  free- 
dom. Pledging  their  fortunes  and  their  lives, 
unhesitatingly  and  unqualifiedly,  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  Colonies  and  the  good  of  the  hu- 
man race.  And  here  we  are  speaking  for 
forty-three  millions  of  people  on  this  conti- 
nent; and  it  is  almost  hazardous  to  his  repu- 
tation for  common  sense  for  a  man  in  a 
mountain  town  in  California  to  suggest  the 
bare  possibility  that  we  have  a  million  of 
adults  in  this  generation  of  the  great  Re- 
public, who  would  be  willing  to  contribute 
one  hundred  dollars  each  to  deliver  this  land 
from  the  chains  of  a  grinding  and  debauch- 
ing tyranny!  Think  of  it!  Think  of  it — 
before  you  cast  these  suggestions  into  the 
fire  of  your  contempt. 

Co-operation  in  business  is  not  merely  a 
commercial  but  a  patriotic  need  of  the  times. 
That  fraternizing  interest  which  is  denom- 
inated by  this  comprehensive  term  must  be  a 
cardinal  feature  in  the  progi'essive  life  of  the 
people  of  this  Kepublic  during  the  century 
that  is  to  come.  Not  that  communities  shall 
or  should  be  brought  to  the  dead  level  of  priv- 
ilege or  enjoyment;  not  that  competition 
shall  not  be  allowed  full  and  encouraged 
opportunity  and  scope  ;  but  that  with  respect 
to  the  fundamental  wants  and  requirements  of 
the  people,  the  balance  of  privilege  for  all 
shall  be  recovered  and  kept  with  a  steady 
and  unfaltering  hand. 

These  monopolies  do  more  than  directly  op- 
press and  interfere  wrongfully  with  business 
enterprises  of  the  citizens.  They  check  the 
advances  of  mankind  in  the  application  and 
enjoyment  of  inventions.  It  is  so  in  some 
degree  with  respect  to  railroading  ;  it  is  pi'e- 
eminently  so  with  respect  to  telegraphs.  To- 
day there  stand  on  record  inventions  which 
multiply  the  working  capacity  of  the  tele- 
graph more  than  a  hundred  fold.  But  they 
do  not  come  into  practical  and  popular  use 
because  the  telegraph  monopoly  in  this  coun- 
try will  not  have  the  prices  for  transmission 
cheapened,  nor  their  pretended  reasons  for 
maintaining  their  exorbitant  tariffs  still 
further  impaired  and  exposed.  More  than 
this:  thousands  and  thousands  of  persons  are 
kept  out  of  employment  by  the  managers  of 
this  legacy  of  discovery  and  invention. 
Where  a  railroad  and  telegraph  monopoly  of 
the  country  at  this  day  employ  one  person, 
proper  competition  and  a  proper  application 
of  inventions  and  discoveries  by  way  of  im- 
provement— with  the  proportionate  reduction 
of  terms — would  result  in  creating  a  demand 
for  twenty  persons.  With  a  postal  telegraph 
all  the  wonderful  improvements  which  have 
been  made  in  the  methods  of  transmitting  mes- 
sages by  electricity  during  the  past  ten  years 
would  be  applied,  audwithin  the  decade  all  the 
written  communications  of  the  people  would 
be  transmitted  over  the  telegraph  wires.  None 
qualified  to  speak  with  reference  to  this  subject 
could  maintain  a  negative  to  this  assertion  be- 
fore an  intelligent  audience.  But  the  people 
are  kept  in  ignorance  of  these  facts  ;  these  in- 
ventions are  smothered  ;  Congress  is  bam- 
boozled and  bribed  in  order  that  the  telegraph 
monopoly  may  continue  to  flourish  and  extort. 
How  long  is  this  to  be  in  a  free  country,  or  in 
a  country  worthy  to  be  called  free  ?  In  this 
nineteenth  century  of  Christian  civilization, 
and  this  second  century  of  the  life  of  the 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


13 


American  Republic :— How  long?  How 
long  are  we  to  be  under  the  dominion  of 
these  monopolists  ?  The  people  and  the 
press  of  the  conntry  places  of  the  land  are 
alone  to  be  relied  upon  for  a  cheering  answer. 

The  margin  for  individual  enterprise  and 
splendid  business  competition  should  grow 
wider  with  each  important  invention  calcu- 
lated to  lessen  the  requirements  for  manual 
drudgery,  and  to  diversify  the  industries  of 
life.  The  grasping  of  gelhsh  monopolies  must 
be  met  by  the  fraternizing  of  the  people  in 
their  several  departments  of  labor ;  or  the 
second  auspicious  hour  for  emancipation  will 
have  passed  forever  from  our  reckoning !  It 
is  a  part  of  true  patriotism  to  meditate  upon 
these  things. 

The  "  pursuit  of  happiness  "  is  declared 
to  be  an  inalienable  right.  To  "insure  do- 
mestic tranquillity  "  is  proclaimed  a  purpose 
of  the  Union.  Yet  we  know  that  there  is  an 
apprehension  among  many  good  people  (es- 
pecially among  those  who  claim  entire  ortho- 
doxy for  their  creed  and  purpose)  to  the 
effect  that  one  of  our  greatest  dangers  as  a 
people  consists  in  our  present  or  future  exces- 
sive characteristic  happiness  and  content.  In 
this  there  must  be  a  confusion  of  ideas  ;  a 
substituting  of  the  thought  of  luxury  and 
enervating  ease,  for  a  just  conception  of  a 
condition  of  plenty  and  peace.  These  good 
people  delight  to  review  their  early  history, 
and  their  children  are  glad  to  hear  the  story — 
how  they  struggled,  and  toiled,  and  overcome, 
amid  many  and  great  privations.  They  hold 
those  parental  plans  injudicious  which  favor 
for  their  children  the  amelioration  or  avoid- 
ance of  hardships  such  as  attended  their  own 
boyhood  struggle  for  a  livelihood  and  com- 
petence. And  going  beyond  this,  in  the  gen- 
eral thought  concerning'the  land  and  the  peo- 
ple : — when  they  see  so  much  wrong-doing  in 
our  Republic,  they  prophesy  an  immediate 
and  literal  war  of  redemption,  or  an  ordeal 
of  terrible  distress.  Between  these  good  peo- 
ple's opinions,  and  the  rose-colored  view  of 
the  optimist,  the  just  picture  and  judgment 
may  be  found  in  a  balance.  Discipline  is  a 
thing  for  the  generations  that  are  soon  to 
come  npon  the  active  stage  of  life  in  this 
Republic,  but  a  tax  of  penury  and  want  is 
unnecessary.  And  for  the  battling  that  is 
disciplinary  in  its  character  and  redeeming 
in  its  results,  the  fields  are  ready  and  to  the 
hand  for  every  patriot. 

Talk  not  to  me  of  heroism  or  martyrdom 
as  confined  alone  to  the  bloody  field  of  car- 
nage. The  courage,  patience,  and  persist- 
ence that  compose  the  fine  quality  of  heroism 
are  needed  now  in  our  conntry  in  the  blessed 
days  of  peace.  Onr  sons  and  daughters  are  and 
will  be  required,  in  the  name  and  cause  of  pat- 
riotism, to  challenge  foes  and  confront  unnum- 
bered enemies  to  the  cause  of  political  right 
and  liberty.  Not  in  literal  manual  combat,  nor 
yet  in  any  misty  debates  about  the  problems 
of  life  which  the  phlegmatic  philosophers  put 
forth  with  so  much  unction  and  exclnsiveness. 

The  statement  and  the  illustration  of  the 
demand  for  all  the  strength  and  vigor  of 
patriotism  can  surely  be  placed  in  brief  and 
unmistakable  paragraphs. 

Your  boy  will  find,  as  he  enters  upon  the 
arena  of  life,  that  if  he  would  be  honest  and 
earnest  in  devotion  to  the  principles  of  liberty 
in  this  country,  he  must  be  both  brave  and 
resolute.  The  blandishments  of  the  devil's 
own  princes  are  on  every  hand.  And  it  may 
be  that  martyrdom  is  for  him  ;  for  if  it  shall 
be  true  that  he  stands  confirmed  as  an  honest 


representative,  he  must  not  expect  promo- 
tion, except  he  live  in  vigor  to  see  the  day 
when  the  rising  strength  of  an  intelligent 
and  honorable  people  shall  overbear  all  the 
cunning  of  the  rings  of  monopoly.  Back  to 
private  life,  or  not  one  step  beyond  the  first 
promotion — such  will  be  their"  orders,  if  he 
will  not  do  their  law.  And  often  it  is  to-day 
the  fact — and  will  be  BO  to-morrow — that  he 
who  contributes  most  to  create  and  promote  a 
just  public  sentiment  will  reap  no  political 
reward.  He  may  be,  he  is  likely  to  be,  the 
most  unpopular  man  in  the  very  communities 
where  he  has  instigated  and  inoculated  a 
spirit  of  righteous  resistance,  rebellion,  and 
reform.  And  in  the  first  dawning  days  of 
victory  for  the  cause  he  has  espoused,  he 
must  expect  to  see  time-servers  and  hypocrites 
reap  the  harvest  of  his  labor  and  fortitude. 

The  monopolies  say  to  the  young  man  who 
makes  his  first  app'earance  in  the  public 
forum  :  "  Be  circumspect,  young  man,  and  do 
not  attack  our  '  vested  rights.'  "  That  much, 
at  least,  will  be  whispered  into  his  ear,  at 
the  very  outset  of  his  mission  as  a  public- 
spirited  citizen  and  patriot. 

But  if  he  should  be  recognized  at  once  as 
possessing  unusual  ability,  the  agents  of  the 
monopolists  will  go  further  and  eay,  "  Come 
into  our  private  rooms,  young  man,  and  we 
will  point  out  to  you  the  certain  and  only 
road  of  preferment.  We  will  convince  you 
forthwith  that  your  prudent  and  proper 
and  profitable  course  lies  in  the  direc- 
tion that  we  alone  are  competent  to  indi- 
cate. To  begin  with— as  a  trifling  token 
of  our  regard  for  you  and  of  our  disposition  to 
be  your  friend  in  all  things — you  shall  have 
plenty  of  money  for  your  comfort,  your 
pleasures,  and  your  dissipations.  We  are  rich 
and  powerful  ;  we  say  to  this  man  Go,  and 
he  goeth,  and  to  another  Come,  and  he  com- 
eth  ;  we  build  up  legislatures,  we  nominate 
Governors,  and  Congressmen,  and  United 
States  Senators ;  and  no  young  man  can  be 
sure  of  a  lasting  and  honorable  reputation 
who  has  not  our  endorsement.  And  if  any 

of  popular  will,  rebels  against  our  dictates 
when,  with  our  consent,  he  shall  have  been 
elected,  we  kick  him  out  of  office,  and  add  a 
thousand  humiliations  to  the  ordinary  shame 
of  a  remarkable  and  unexpected  defeat.  We 
can  show  you,  if  you  will  come  into  our  pri- 
vate rooms,  full  enough  to  convince  you  of 
our  ability  in  respect  to  these  matters.  Come 
in,  and  communicate  with  us." 

I  give  almost  a  literal  copy  of  the  language 
of  appeal  and  admonition  and  promise  in 
such  cases  made  and  provided. 

But  the  young  man  may  say,  if  he  shall 
have  been  elected  to  any  representative 
position:  "  lam  pledged  to  my  constituents," 
or  ''I  am  bound  by  my  implied  and  understood 
fealty  to  my  party,  to  oppose  strenuously 
such  measures  as  I  understand  you  wish  pro- 
moted or  sustained." 

Then  the  reply  will  come— as  its  equiva- 
lent is  on  the  record  in  affidavits  before  the 
Committees  of  Congress  at  this  day  :  "  Young 
man,  you  don't  know  what  what  you  are  do- 
ing, or  what  you  are  talking  about.  Yon 
will  probably  never  be  heard  of  again  in 
public  life  as  a  public  officer  if  you  don't 
agree  to  our  terms  and  walk  in  paths  of 
pleasantness  which  we  open  out.  That  is : 
never  creditably  known.  Many  young  men 
in  the  ardor  of  their  youthful  dispositions, 
and  in  the  natural  pride  of  life,  have  pre- 
sumed to  oppose  us,  as  you  think  yon  may 


14 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


do  to-morrow  ;  but  they  have  been  driven 
out  of  public  life,  or  we  have,  at  the  very 
least,  kept  them  on  the  grade  where  they 
stood  when  they  commenced  hostilities. 
Not  one  step  have  they  taken  in  advance  ; 
except  they  have  repented  and  come  in  with 
us  and  accepted  our  vows  and  obtained  our 
good  opinion,  they  have  never  advanced 
one  step  further  in  public  position  or  popular 
reputation.  Come  in  and  look  at  our  ledger 
and  our  catalogue." 

Perhaps  the  young  man  goes  into  their 
parlors,  in  their  splendid  hotel,  or  in  their 
dwelling-houses  over-looking  the  metropolis 
— from  whose  verandah  the  King  of  monopo- 
lies can  look  down  upon  his  city  full  of 
victims.  And  they  call  the  roll ;  and  they 
recite  circumstances  ;  and  they  tell  in  detail 
the  shameful  history  of  thousands  of  the 
"leading  citizens  "  in  the  State  of  California, 
and  in  the  States  adjacent  thereto — Senators, 
Representatives,  Governors,  etc. 

And  then  they  repeat  their  solicitations: 
"Accept  our  liberal  proposition  and  you  are 
rich  to-day,  and  you  still  remain  free  for  all 
opinions  and  pursuits  not  antagonistic  to 
our  '  vested  rights.'  Do  it,  young  man,  do 
it,  or  we  will  open  our  metropolitan  daily 
and  weekly  papers  upon  you !  We  have 
scholars  at  San  Francisco  engaged  in  writ- 
ing on  the  Evening  Wiseacre  and  the  Morn- 
ing Owl  who  will  pick  out  all  the  flaws  in 
vour  extemporaneous  rhetoric  and  the  inad- 
vertant  errors  in  your  statements,  and  artisti- 
cally exhibit  you  as  an  ignoramus  and  a 
frand — if  you  don't  come  in  with  us.  Now 
recollect,  you  are  just  beginning  life,  and 
the  future  is  before  you.  We  can  attribute  a 
thousand  things  to  you  which  you  never 
thought  of,  much  less  uttered,  and  so  assert 
and  reassert  that  the  majority  of  the  people 
who  read  our  publications — for  lack  of  any 
other  cheap  publication  in  which  to  find  the 
news — will  believe  that  you  are  the  author 
of  the  most  ridiculous  falsehoods  as  well  as 
the  most  ungrammatical  periods.  And  in 
addition,  our  blackguard  dailies  or  our 
Barbary  Coast  weeklies  will  not  only  adopt 
this  method  of  sending  you  to  Coventry, 
but  will  question  whether  your  initials  do  not 
belong  to  a  regular  attendant  in  the  lowest 
haunts  of  vice  ;  will  lampoon  you  and  your 
family,  until  your  relations,  one  and  all,  like 
Job's  wife,  shall  invite  you  to  curse  God 
and  die ! 

"Young  man,  you  had  better  come  over  and 
come  with  us.  We  will  dp  you  good.  Here 
is  a  purse  of  gold  to  begin*  with.  And  we 
will  give  you  a  homestead  to-morrow.  Why 
need  you  work  and  drudge  all  your  life  long 
to  attain  reputation  and  honor?  We  can 
make  you  honorably  renowned  in  a  day. 
Why  should  you  voluntarily  plunge  into  battle 
for  the  'dear  people,'  against  our  interests  and 
our  vested  rights  ?  We  will  make  you  per- 
fectly comfortable  to-day,  and  secure  you 
with'a  bond  for  to-morrow  and  for  all  the  com- 
ing days  of  your  life.  Come  with  us.  Don't 
make  an  accursed  fool  of  yourself.  Come 
with  us.  You  shall  have  your  name  heralded 
in  our  daily  Metropolitan  and  our  weekly 
San  Francisco  Presses,  as  "arising  young 
statesman  "  of  the  State.  Your  bills  shall  be 
paid  at  the  Palace  Hotel  whenever  you  come 
to  the  city.  You  shall  have  all  the  money  you 
need  for  your  comfort  and  luxury.  You  shall 
have  all  the  means  you  require  for  your  can- 
vasses in  your  locality.  Your  portrait  shall 
be  shed  abroad  before  the  world  in  our  mam- 
moth Centennial  sheet,  and  in  our  weekly 


gallery  of  successful  saints  in  San  Francisco. 
A  great  future  is  opening  out  before  you, 
young  man.  Come  in  and  be  of  us.  Don't  be 
fidgetty  about  the  rights  or  the  reasonable  de- 
sires of  the  people.  Who  are  the  people  ? 
The  people  are  numbskulls.  Our  metropolitan 
press  "  plays  "  the  people  for  all  they  are 
worth  at  every  election.  Suppose  a  few 
hard-fisted  yeomen  denounce  you  for  an  ap- 
parent disregard  of  platforms  and  a  violation 
of  private  promises.  If  for  your  interests 
and  our  own  you  run  for  office  again  in  that 
locality  or  that  district,  we  will  smooth  mat- 
ters over  at  the  election  time.  And,  young 
man,  we  have  a  hundred  ways  of  "going 
after  "  any  tough  customer  in  any  particular 
community  who  is  obstreperous  against  us, 
and  particularly  insists  upon  legislative  as- 
saults on  our  "  vested  rights."  Come  in 
with  us." 

And  so  the  pleading  goes  on — in  this  strain 
it  proceeds  day  in  and  night  out,  until  the 
final  determination  is  made.  Is  there  not  an 
opportunity  for  patriotic  hei'oism  here? 
Under  such  circumstances,  do  you  need  a 
foreign  war  to  develop  the  spirit  of  a  soldier 
in  the  breasts  of  the  boys  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion ?  Do  we  not  rather  require  a  quiet 
moral  home-discipline  in  truth  and  integrity, 
to  develop  the  soundest  faith  in  our  institu- 
tions and  the  most  abiding  love  for  the  liber- 
ties with  which  our  fathers  endowed  us  ?  Do 
we  not  need  all  the  accomplishments  that 
earnest  study  can  get  for  our  children  who 
are  to  meet  the  domestic  tyrants  of  this  land — 
if  ever  they  are  to  be  successfully  encoun- 
tered— and  defeat  their  devices  and  over- 
throw their  policy  ? 

This  Republic  cannot  be  re-cemented  by 
the  collision  of  armed  soldiery,  combatting 
foreign  enemies,  and  so  wedding  the  people 
anew  in  the  comradeship  of  the  camp.  The 
demoralization  and  the  ruin  of  character  that 
inevitably  follows  any  great  war  is  suffici- 
ently exhibited  in  the  government  as  it  stands. 
The  greatest  champions  of  the  race  have  been 
born  and  nurtured  in  times  of  profoundest 
peace.  As  the  doors  of  the  temple  of  the 
heathen  God  of  War  were  closed  when  the 
Divine  Hero  came  to  fulfill  His  mission  to  man 
in  the  land  of  Palestine,  so  has  the  blessing 
of  a  quiet  boyhood  life  been  characteristically 
the  enjoyment  of  nearly  all  the  human  de- 
fenders of  the  rights  of  the  people.  The 
cultivation  of  honor  and  courage  in  the  col- 
leges of  peace,  is  the  discipline  for  the  young 
who  are  to  be  invited  into  the  banquet-hall  of 
the  kings  of  monopolies  and  their  courtiers — 
where  the  king  and  his  dukes,  earls,  mar- 
quises, baronets,  and  unnumbered  flunkies, 
gather  for  the  orgies  of  the  night ; — and  who 
are  to  retire  unseduced  by  the  dissipations, 
and  defiant  of  the  threats  and  warnings  given 
in  the  parlors  above. 

We  boast  a  land  of  content ;  and  there  is 
peace.  We  boast  of  wealth  of  productions  ; 
and  they  are  beyond  valuation.  The  corn  and 
the  wine  and  the  oil,  and  the  iron  and  copper, 
and  the  precious  minerals— are  they  not  all  in 
the  invoice  of  the  country  ?  Against  your 
own  mountains  that  gird  us  round  about,  the 
hydraulic  ram  with  its  three  hundred  feet 
perpendicular  pressure  throws  a  river  of 
water,  sending  down  immense  streams,  heavy 
with  golden  sands,  for  generous  deposit  in  the 
long  block-ribbed  flumes  —  yet  relatively 
wearing  no  more  of  substance  from  the  im- 
mense deposits  of  equally  valuable  earth  than 
the  play  of  a  pocket-syringe  could  fret  from 
one  of  the  lower  layers  of  the  great  pyramid 


THEN   AND   NOW. 


15 


of  Egypt.  And  of  the  productions  of  the 
necessaries  and  the  ordinary  comforts  of  life: 
so  vast  is  the  burden  in  granary  and  factory 
and  warehouse,  that  true  political  economy 
must  to  day  discover  in  the  fact  of  superabund- 
ance a  preponderating  cause  of  financial  dis- 
tress. 

O,  laud  of  peace  and  plenty  !  The  need  is 
for  the  American  youth  to  take  advantage  of 
the  time  and  educational  privilege,  that  he 
may  be  a  warrior  in  the  civil  battles  of  the 
new  century. 

The  stimulant  for  discipline  and  comfort  and 
training  is  uuequaled.  For  if  our  institutions 
are  to  be  preserved,  rewards  will  come  to 
those  who  have  the  moral  right.  We  must 
soon  agree  as  a  people  to  take  the  best  men 
for  the  most  responsible  offices,  without  res- 
pect to  peculiar  opinions  in  reference  to  sub- 
ordinate political  issues.  We  must  soon  learn 
to  make  clear  popular  discriminations  be- 
tween the  real  soldiers  for  liberty  and  the 
political  frauds  who,  for  themselves  alone,  or 
for  their  secret  monopoly  masters,  mount  the 
rising  tide  of  public  opinion  and  determ- 
ination. 

The  stimulant  and  instruction  in  culture  as 
patriots  has  been  with  us  too  much  neglected 
in  the  years  gone  by.  It  is  the  study  of  the 
lives  of  our  Fathers  of  the  Revolution — 
their  statesmanship  and  their  practical  policy 
— that  most  needs  the  commendation  of  the 
hour.  What  more  fascinating  study  !  In  how 
many  instances  exceeding  the  charm  of  the 
most  bewitching  novel  that  was  ever  written 
from  historic  annals.  Precept  with  example, 
and  the  invitations  and  incentive  of  lineage, 
are  combined  and  concentrated  here. 

To-day  we  stand  looking  back  upon  the 
past,  and  taking  our  vows  anew,  as  with 
nerves  of  steel :  that  this  Republic,  this 
Government  "  for  the  people  by  the  people," 
shall  not  fail  from  off  the  earth.  Yet  hardly 
have  we  arrived  at  the  true  conception — as  I 
trust  and  believe— of  the  intensity  of  that 
devotion  which  intelligent  and  educated 
citizens  will  hold  towards  this  country  when 
they  shall  have  risen  from  the  perusal  of  the 
pages  of  the  worthy  biographies  of  the 
Pounders  of  the  Republic.  Nor  is  there  in 
the  classic  writings  of  England  a  pattern 
for  diction,  exceeding  in  its  length  and 
breadth  of  excellence  the  periods  of  Jefferson, 
the  paragraphs  of  Adams,  and  the  essays  of 
Hamilton. 

True  patriotism  is  always  a  lively  and 
aggressive  sentiment.  The  Republic  is  full 
of  saintly  men  who  are  negatively  good 
citizens,  but  almost  absolutely  worthless  for 
the  warfare  that  is  at  hand.  We  need  no 
foreign  war ;  but  we  do  need  a  war-like 
spirit  in  its  fullest  measure  and  aggressive 
force,  and  its  most  exhilarating  glow.  It 
shall  come  as  an  Inspiration  from  the  pages 
of  these  biographies  f 

Nor  can  we  be  sufficiently  thankful  that  the 
year  brings  forth,  for  many  reasons  of  profit  to 
Writer  and  publisher,  a  long  catalogue  of  new 
editions,  and  a  rapidly  lengthening  list  of 
fresh  and  perfect  reviews  of  our  Fathers' 
patriotic  deed  and  thought.  And  shamed  be  the 
boy  of  fitting  age  and  decent  opportunity, who 
shall  not  at  the  close  of  the  year  we  open 
to-day — if  not  before — be  able  to  recite  a 
comprehensive  record  of  the  Revolution,  and 
the  names  and  the  principal  facts  in  the  biogra- 
phies of  all  its  influential  heroes ;  and  the 
general  principles  which  each  of  them  in- 
culcated when  the  ultimate  form  of  govern- 
ment came  to  be  considered  and  determined. 


No  work  for  the  purely  patriotic  in  our 
day  ?  No  occasion  for  superlative  commenda- 
tion of  such  a  sentiment  ?  No  practical  appli- 
cation of  it  in  the  business  affairs  of  govern- 
ment, in  these  piping  hours  of  peace  ?  Look 
abroad  and  look  at  home.  The  old  mon- 
archs  of  Europe  hate  us  even  more  than  they 
did  our  Fathers  in  the  days  so  long  gone  by. 
The  rich  men  who  run  the  governments  of 
Europe  by  loans,  and  by  hiding  the  sinews  of 
war,  are  m  close  social  league  with  the  rich 
men  of  this  country  who  compose  the  iucor- 
porators  and  managers  of  the  gigantic  mon- 
opolies of  our  Republic.  All  these,  and  all 
alike,  prefer  a  "  strong  government,"  as  they 
call  it ;  by  which,  among  themselves — as  they 
sit  in  private  consultation — they  agree  that 
they  can  soonest  bring  to  bear  those  influ- 
ences and  accomplish  those  results  which 
make  their  miserly  money- calling  sure  and 
great. 

Or  you  assert  or  suggest  that  no  patriotism 
is  possible  save  in  the  "walks  of  public  life — 
no  manifestation  or  exemplification  appro- 
priate save  in  legislative  action,  and  upon 
the  forum  ?  We  want  from  the  coming  gen- 
eration an  American  Charles  Dickens,  Wil- 
liam Makepeace  Thackeray,  and  Douglas  Jer- 
old,  and  George  Cruiksbank  (who  would 
not  sell  his  pencil  to  any  party),  who  shall 
spear  these  mushroom  and  shoddy  aristocrats; 
•who  shall  pursue  them  as  they  ascend  to  their 
throne-chambers  in  their  hotels  and  clap- 
board castles  of  luxury,  seduction,  and  vice, 
•with  a  mercilessly  crucifying  art.  We  want 
men  of  such  genius,  whose  patriotic  judg- 
ment is  clear,  and  who  are  not  to  be  bought 
with  the  monopolist's  gold.  Nor  shall  such 
writers  wait  long  for  recognition ;  for  so 
anxious  in  this  direction  has  been  the  instinc- 
tive hope  of  the  American  public,  that  many 
clowns  and  thinly  endowed  humorists  who 
have  really  essayed  something  to  this  service, 
have  been  welcomed  with  a  tumult  of  ap- 
plause as  they  shied  their  caps  into  the  arena 
of  letters. 

We  need  the  drama  that  will  "  hold  the 
mirror  up  to  nature."  At  this  day  in  this 
country  we  have  nothing  that  fully  an- 
swers such  description — if,  indeed,  we 
have  anything  that  makes  a  worthy  ap- 
proach to  such  composition  as  Shakspeare  so 
intended  to  commend.  The  foibles  and  silly 
affectations  of  fashionable  life — where  female 
offenders  against  what  is  called  good  taste 
are  the  objects  of  caricature  and  censure 
— and  in  this  the  play  is  a  species  of  cow- 
ardice—are held  up  to  moral  reprobation 
by  some  of  our  "society  comedies."  But 
the  vices  and  crimes  of  the  unscrupulous 
sons  of  avarice,  which  do  most  grievous- 
ly afflict  the  country,  are  not  touched 
by  our  American  stage  authors  ;  or  only  re- 
ferred to  in  the  most  delicate  Harrold-Skim- 
pole  manner.  The  American  comedies  that 
are  to  be  recognized  as  worthy,  healthy,  and 
reformatory  sarcasms  on  the  times — our  times 
— are  yet  to  be  written.  They  cannot,  at  the 
first  years  of  introduction,  be  played  in  the 
theaters  of  the  large  cities — only  in  the  coun- 
try towns  and  villages.  And  from  this  must 
come  another  advantage  of  instruction  and 
recreation. 

We  now  pay  exorbitant  prices  for  eligible 
seats  in  our  metropolitan  theaters  ;  where  we 
may  listen  to  one  or  two  good  actors  and 
actresses,  supported  by  ladies  and  gentlemen 
whose  reading  is  forced  and  unnatural  at  all 
times,  and  often  execrable  in  the  extreme — 
the  worst  possible  elocutionary  patterns  for 


16 


THEN  AND   NOW. 


our  children,  so  far  as  management  of  voice 
and  appropriateness  of  gesture  is  concerned. 
I  have  heard  some  of  the  old  English  come- 
dies performed  far  better  in  the  Academy 
Hall,  in  a  village  of  the  State,  than  I  have 
ever  known  the  same  or  similar  plays  to  be 
presented  in  any  one  of  the  many  be-puffed 
city  "  Temples  of  the  Drama  "  which  I  have 
visited.  There  is  a  great  lacking  in  popular 
opportunity  for  this  kind  of  most  instructive 
recreation.  A  most  foolish  lacking— for  there 
is  an  immense  amount  of  -uncultivated  or 
unutilized  dramatic  talent  in  the  land ; 
unexercised,  if  not  actually  repressed,  on 
account  of  the  practical  monopoly  in  this 
kind  of  amusements  in  the  city,  and  the 
ignorance  and  prejudice  touching  the  native 
ability  of  our  boys  and  girls  for  pleasing  and 
effective  stage  delineations.  Every  town  in 
the  country  should  have  a  suitable  edifice  for 
the  drama,  that  would  mirror  the  times.  The 
acting  material  is  abundant ;  and  the  bene- 
ficial results  of  the  systematic  cultivation  and 
regular  or  frequent  exhibition  of  the  home 
talent  for  the  home  theater  can  be  expected 
by  every  intelligent  person  who  will  reflect 
upon  the  subject  and  the  scheme.  For  elo- 
cutionary clearness  and  precision  of  utterance, 
and  for  truth  of  emphasis  and  tenderness  of 
genuine  pathos,  I  have  never  heard  any 
professional  reader  surpass  in  excellence  the 
little  lady  who  read  your  patriotic  poems 
from  your  platform  to-day. 

But  the  elements  for  romance  in  our  history 
will  soon  appear  to  be  enhanced  a  thousand 
fold,  and  so  will  more  smoothly  and  naturally 
and  enchantingly  come  forth  the  satires  of 
the  age.  Passing  the  Centennial  year,  we 
are  fully  within  the  barriers  of  time  for  the 
complete  exercise  of  the  gifts  and  the  spirit 
of  imagination  towards  the  things  of  the 
past.  The  appearance  of  contemporary  events 
gives  place  to  the  faintly  shadowed  outlines 
of  the  distant  mountain-tops  and  the  softly 
changing  hues  of  the  landscape  that  lies  be- 
tween. Children  of  fancy,  pictures  of  love 
and  devotion,  may  now  be  drawn  upon  a  back- 
ground unsurpassed  for  the  accessories  of  foli- 
age and  perspective  of  cloud.  While  we  may 
not  boast  of  ancient  ruins  and  cities,  and  de- 
caying castles,with  which  to  invite  the  modern 
traveling  philosophers  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  Continent,  as  centers  for  their  observation, 
and  as  studies  and  incentives  for  the  romantic, 
yet  shall  our  own  accomplished  children  find 
the  national  history  which  is  undisputed,  and 
the  heroism  which  it  embodies  and  suggests 
and  prophecies,  more  than  compensation. 

And  all  shall  combine — O,  let  us  believe  it 
will  be  so,  as  so  we  pray  it  may  be — and  all 
shall  combine  to  nurture  the  patriotism  of  the 
near  future,  which  can  tolerate  no  truth- 
bearing  challenge  that  reads  before  the 
world :  "  You  have  the  form  of  a  Free 
Republican  Government  ;  but  a  few  incor- 
porated thieves  have  absolute  dominion 
throughout  your  land." 


O,  day  of  memory  and  hope  !  Our  con- 
fidence and  our  enthusiasm  rise  with  every 
retrospect,  and  amid  all  shortcomings  and 
defects  spring  forth  brighter  and  stronger 
from  every  hour  of  solemn  meditation. 

The  once  restless  ambition  for  territorial 
expansion  is  no  more.  We  have  set  our  lines 
on  the  South  ;  and  if  the  green  and  yellow 
plats  of  Canada  and  British  Columbia  are 
to  be  added  to  our  survey,  it  will  not  be 
because  we  seek  an  annexation.  Our  fields 
are  measured  to-day,  by  universal  consent. 
Within  the  boundaries  as  they  now  stand, 
the  labor  and  the  development  of  the  nation 
for  a  hundred  years  to  come  are  to  be  ex- 
perienced and  enjoyed. 

Of  that  which  'is  due  and  desired,  we  have 
but  faintly  sketched  some  of  the  larger  mat- 
ters. 

For  every  one  of  us  there  comes  a  summons 
unto  a  perfect  citizenship.  We  shall  not 
attain  unto  it ;  we  must  strive  to  approximate 
it.  Bound  no  more — no  more,  if  ever  in  our 
past  lives — by  the  iron  chains  of  party,  we 
take  the  issues  that  come  for  our  decision 
into  the  closets  of  honest  hearts,  and  lay  our 
verdicts  upon  the  altar  of  our  country  ; — un- 
biased by  personal  favoritism,  unqualified  by 
sinister  considerations  or  enfeebling  fear.  So 
may  it  be.  Then  shall  true  civilization  ad- 
vance ;  then  shall  the  arts  of  peace  flourish 
best  of  all  in  the  land  of  Washington  ; 
and  then  shall  the  Creator  here  make  mani- 
fest the  uttermost  beneficent  possibilities  of 
the  human  race. 

"  O,  Country,  marvel  of  the  earth! 

O,  realm  to  sudden  greatness  grown! 

The  age  that  gloried  in  thy  birth- 
Shall  it  behold  thee  overthrown  ? 

Shall  state  corruptions  ruin  sow  ? 

Shall  selfish  schemers  bring  thee  low  ? 

No,  land  of  Hope  and  Blessing,  no! 

"  And  they  who  founded  in  this  land 
The  power  that  rules  from  sea  to  sea ; 

Bled  they  in  vain,  or  vainly  planned, 
To  leave  this  country  great  and  free? 

Their  sleeping  ashes  from  below 

Send  up  the  thrilling  murmur,  no! 

"  Our  humming  marts,  our  iron  ways, 

Our  wind-tossed  woods  on  mountain  crest 

The  hoarse  Atlantic  with  its  bays, 

The  calm,  broad  ocean  of  the  West, 

And  Mississippi's  torrent  flow, 

And  loud  Niagara  answer,  no! 

"  Nor  yet  the  hour  is  nigh  when  they 
Who  deep  in  Eld's  dim  twilight  sit— 

Earth's  ancient  kings— shall  rise  and  say— 
'  Proud  country,  welcome  to  the  pit! 

So  soon  art  thou,  like  us,  brought  low! ' 

No,  sullen  group  of  shadows,  no! 

"  For  now  behold  the  arm  that  gave 
The  victory  in  ©ur  Fathers'  day, 

Strong  as  of  old  to  guard  and  save- 
That  mighty  arm  that  none  can  stay  : 

In  clouds  above  and  fields  below, 

Writes  in  men's  sight  the  answer,  no!  " 


LECTURES,  ETC., 


BY 


Charles  A.  Sumner. 

FOR  SALE  BY  ROMAN  ft  CO,,  SAN  FRANCISCO, 
IPrice.          -  -  25  Cents. 


The  Overland  Trip.— AXariativeIecturc(withmapH) 

Pniinrl    thn    Hnrn   A  Christmas  Story.     Of  the  above,  the   Standard  of  the.  r/'ox; 

nUUMU    IIIC    nul  II         •     (Cleveland,  Ohio,)  says:   "  These  pamphlets  are  tide-marks 

in  the  development  of  California.  The  one  gives  the  .story  of  the  tedious  voyage  aromv!  the 
Horn  ;  the  other  is  a  graphic  sketch  of  the  overland  trip  by  rail.  Mr.  Sumner  has  a  bright, 
picturesque  style,  and  puts  a  great  deal  of  real  life  into  his  descriptions.  Any  one  who 
wishes  to  refresh  his  own  memories  of  this  travel,  or  to  see  what  this  trip  is  when  taken  by 
one  who  has  his  average  share  of  animal  spirits,  will  find  these  sketches  both  interesting 
and  enjoyable.  Mr  Sunnier  has  done  well  to  print  his  recollections,  and  we  .shall  be  glad  to 
see  other  writings  from  the  same  lively  and  vigoroxis  pen." 

flnn  PanaHian  Noinhhnrc  Eoins  items  from  the  recollection  of  atrip  to 

UUI     UdlldUlan    lieiyilUUI  O.  Canada.   "It  abounds  in  delightful  description 

of  the  old  towns  of  the  New  Dominion,  in  pleasant  and  sometimes  in  philosophic  observa- 
tions and  quaint  allusions,  in  sketches  of  character,  in  piquant  contrasts,  and  is  written  in 
a  style  so  vigorous  and  elegant  that  we  are  inclined  to  regret  that  the  author  has  not  given 
more  attention  to  literature.  The  first  two  or  three  pages  remind  us  of  Charles  Lamb  ; 
dwelling,  as  they  do,  upon  certain  old  books  which  are  dear  to  every  reader,  and  in  a  style 
of  English  suggesting  the  simplicity,  yet  vigor,  of  the  age  when  fine  writing  was  not  ae 
fashionable  as  it  is  nowadays."— Browne's  Phonographic  Monthly,  N.  Y.  City. 

to     Dinrktin   Nevada; — being  a  sketch  of  recent  frontier  travel. 

IU     rlUwllOj 

Brief  Notes  of  Fraternal  visits.— I-OOFAd<ll>S8 

r\t\t\     Fo!!n\A/ehin   Rhymes  descriptive  of  the  origin,  objects,  methods,  and  dedi- 

UUU  .llUWoill|J.       ~    cation  ceremonies  of  the  Order.    Published  at  the  request  of 

the  Grand  Lodge  of  California. 

Tnnnhoo    onrl    Hinte    A  Rhymed  Discourse  on  the  Times.   "Delightful  humor 

llllO.  and  keen  sarcasm  in  elegant  verse.     *    *    *    The  pre- 

fatory verses,  descriptive  of  the  site  of  the  University  at  Berkeley,  and  the  view  there- 
from, as  it  is  at  this  time,  are  at  once  exact  in  fidelity  to  natural  scenes,  and  charming  and 
elevating  in  suggestive  power. — Oakland  \ 

Plannon iat inn     A  Play  in  four  acts.     Place,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  :  Time,   1863  and 

Ucpl  Glrld  liUil.  '  '  18C4.  "  We  sec,  by  the  copyright  notice,  that  the  author  is  Charles 
A.  Sumner,  now  State  Senator  from  Storey  county.  *  *  *  It  is  an  admirably  written 
comedy,  showing  up  the  mushrooms  <-f  San  Francisco  with  an  artist's  hand.  The  'Love 
Passages  '  in  it  are  excellent.  It  would  prove  a  hit,  we  think,  on  the  New  York  city  stage. 
As  a  memorandxim  of  'things'  as  they  are  in  social  life  in  San  Francisco,  to-day,  a  historian 
:»-ty  may  take  notes."— lliunboldl  liegittcr. 

SUMNER'S  LECTURES  ON 

SHORT-HA-ND  ***  REPORTING 

For  Sale  at  ROMAN  &  Co.'s,  San  Francisco,  and  by  ANDREW  J.  GRAHAM, 
5(53  Broadway,  New  York  City.     Price,  25  cents. 


"  SHORT  HAND  AND  REPORTING  "  is  a  valuable  historical  record,  containing  much  in- 
formation entirely  new  to  me.  \VM.  INGUAHAM  KIP,  Bishop  of  California. 

I  venture  to  express  the  hope  that  you  may  awaken  a  proper  interest  in  the  snl 
the  pai-t  of  those  who  control  our  educational  institutions.     If  you  do,  you  will  deserve  to 
rank  as  a  public  Iv  our  historical  matter  is  admirably  presented,  and  your  prac- 

tical suggestions  are  of  the  highest  value.  A.  A.  SARGENT,  U.  S.  S. 

Mr.   Sumner's   unusual   ability  as   a  lecturer,  his   great  power  of  seizing  upon  note- 
worthy facts  and  drawing  novel  conclusions— his  power  of  illuminating  a  subject— are  well 
known  to  readers  of  his  two  lectures  on  the  subjects  well  worn  for  phouographers— '•  Short- 
hand and  Reporting,"  and  "  Popular  Use  and  Benefits  of  Phonography."— Editorial  .Votici'. 
its'  Journal,"  N.  1 


Gaylord  I'.ros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  V 
PAT.  JAM.  21,  1908 


